Notice On Petition Against Cancellation Of NEET-SS 2024
On July 19, the Supreme Court issued a notice regarding a petition challenging the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) decision. They are to cancel the NEET-Super Speciality Exam (NEET-SS) for 2024. The petition was brought forth by thirteen doctors under Article 32 of the Constitution.
The bench, comprised Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. They noted that the NMC’s decision would prevent students from taking the NEET-SS exam this year. The court issued notices to the Union Government, the Medical Counselling Committee, and the NMC. The petitioners also allowed to include the National Board of Examination as a party respondent.
Initially, the Chief Justice questioned the petitioners’ decision to approach the Supreme Court. This is directly under an Article 32 petition. The counsel for the petitioners explained that the exam follows a fixed annual timeline. Established by the Supreme Court’s judgement in Ashish Ranjan v. Union of India. It mandates a specific schedule for medical college admissions.
The counsel argued that the cancellation of the NEET-SS 2024 exam was due to delayed admissions for MD, MS, and DMB courses through the NEET-PG exam in the 2021 academic year. These admissions, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, were conducted from January to May 2022, with course completion pushed to January 2025. To accommodate these students, the NMC decided to postpone the NEET-SS 2024 exam.
The NMC meeting minutes stated that the committee decided not to conduct NEET-SS 2024 this year. Admissions for the 2021 academic session in MD, MS, and DMB courses took place from January to May 2022. However, officials will decide on holding NEET-SS 2024 at a later date.
The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing for July 26.
