SUPREME COURT SAYS AADHAAR CARD IS NOT MANDATORY FOR NEET ASPIRANTS

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that quoting the Aadhaar number will not be mandatory for this year’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses or for any other national examination.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the agency that conducts NEET , to accept alternative identification documents such as voter cards, passports, driving licenses, or bank account details.

The Supreme Court directed the board to ensure this change was effected at the “earliest to avoid inconvenience to the students”. The deadline to enrol for NEET-2018 is March 9.

Attorney General of India KK Venugopal told the court that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had not authorised the CBSE to mandatorily ask for Aadhaar numbers of students for the NEET examination.

Venugopal submitted before the Constitution bench, which is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the Aadhaar law, that he had received instructions from the UIDAI that other identity documents were accepted by the CBSE in states such as Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam. But he justified the CBSE move, saying that complaints of alleged impersonations in NEET were rampant.