The ordinance on NEET, cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday last, is aimed at “partially” overturning Supreme Court order that had also taken into account the multiple medical entrance tests by states and private colleges as well as allegations of corruption.
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Officials said that the President was on Monday briefed by Nadda on three main issues with regard to different exams of the state boards, syllabi and regional languages.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, a first after taking over as the CM, Jayalalithaa thanked him for the speedy promulgation of an Ordinance on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). “They should have instead come up with a new point because the representatives of deemed universities, private colleges, state governments have discussed all points”, he added. With the Ordinance, the remaining seats meant for domicile students will come under NEET. The ruling thus barred the state exams for enrollment in medical exams and the fates of thousands of aspirants became uncertain at least for this year.
The Union Health Minister said that the exemption to the State Governments from NEET is only for a year.
This development will not interfere in NEET-UG phase 2, which will be held on July 24.
A team of Health Ministry officials had waited anxiously this morning at Rashtrapati Bhavan, just in case there were further queries from Pranab Mukherjee and hoping that he would sign on the file before leaving for China.
Health Ministry sources said that seven States will take medical exams as per NEET while in six other states, around 4 lakh students have already taken the examinations.
He told newspersons that the exemptions given to the State Governments from NEET related only to undergraduate admissions for this year (2016-17). From the next year onwards, NEET would be the only medical examination for admission in MBBS and BDS courses throughout the country. He said that this was strongly requested by the States at the meeting of the State Health Ministers held on 16 May 2016.
K. Michael Shyamprasad, a cardiovascular surgeon and former member of a government task force on medical education, said the move to ensure that seats in private medical colleges are filled only through the NEET was long overdue as many private colleges “sold their seats” through capitation fees.
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Nadda said that the necessity of promulgating the Ordinances arose as the Supreme Court is presently in vacation while both the Houses of Parliament had been adjourned sine- die. It would be unfair to make all students take the examination in English/ Hindi, particularly when only two months are left for NEET phase II.
