(PIL) Public Interest Litigation against NEET CET (MBBS) in Supreme Court

(PIL) public interest litigation, challenging the Medical Council of India’s move to introduce the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET/CET) from 2012 for admissions to MBBS seats across the country, has been filed in the Supreme Court by a pune-based organisation.

The PIL has cited, among other things, ambiguities relating to the proposed NEET / CET and a mismatch in the syllabus proposed for the test and the one being taught to Std XII students in Maharashtra, as the grounds for the petition. Full details at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/MCIs-move-on-entrance-test-challenged/articleshow/10370823.cms

“A great deal of concern prevails among students in the state considering that the CET / NEET’s syllabus is based on a core curriculum drafted by central academic organisations and covers both Std XI and XII subjects,” Deeper’s founder secretary Harish Butale, who is the petitioner on behalf of the organisation, told TOI on Saturday.

The secretaries to the human resource development and health and family welfare ministries; MCI chairman; Maharashtra chief minister; state secretary to medical education department; state director of medical education and research and the Maharashtra state board for secondary and higher secondary education have been named respondents in the PIL.

The petitioner has pointed out that the HRD minister has spoken about introducing a single entrance test for engineering degree courses from 2013.

While physics and chemistry subjects are common to the entrance tests for both medical and engineering courses, the petitioner has asked why the Medical Council of India (MCI) was insistent on introducing the CET / NEET from 2012. The petitioner has prayed that the MCI should not be allowed to introduce the proposed test and a single entrance test for medical as well as engineering courses be worked out from 2014.

According to the petitioner, this will also enable students in Maharashtra to be fully prepared for such single entrance test and will provide apt time to work out a transparent, efficient single entrance test system that will have no ambiguities.

It may be noted that the MCI has yet to formally notify the CET / NEET scheme but, has started process for the same by holding consultations and meetings with other stakeholders, including Union ministry for health and family welfare, and releasing the core curriculum for the test on its website.

In July/August, the MCI also invited suggestions/objections and feedback on the CET / NEET from people and received 1,970 feedbacks by end of the August 11 deadline. The Dental Council of India (DCI) has declared that it will adopt the CET / NEET for admissions to the dental courses. States like Gujarat, Karnataka and West Bengal have demanded that vernacular language be allowed for the CET / NEET.

An MCI expert panel has submitted a report to the MCI board of governors (BoG) recommending modalities for the proposed single entrance test. The panel has recommended that there should be no negative marking in the CET / NEET and the paper should be of objective type questions with a percentile score to determine the merit of all applicants. The MCI is also exploring the possibility of lowering the cut-off for MBBS course from the existing 50 pc marks for general category students.