SC: CAN FLY BACK NEET ASPIRANTS
Close to 4k students in the Middle East plan to appear for the test this year
NEWDELHI:The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to ensure that Indian students in the Gulf who have to appear in the September 13 National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) are allowed to travel to India by special flights operating under the Vande Bharat Mission to bring home Indians stranded abroad.
Close to 4,000 students in the Middle East who have to appear in NEET for admission to medical and dental courses had pinned their hopes on a petition in the Supreme Court filed by a social worker, Abdul Azeez.
The petition filed on behalf of 21 such students demanded opening of NEET examination centres in Dubai, Doha and Qatar, as has been done by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for holding the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to engineering schools every year. Azeez’s demand was rejected by the Kerala high court on June 30 and the top court was hearing an appeal against the decision.
Both the NTA and the Medical Council of India (MCI) were opposed to setting up examination centres abroad. An MCI affidavit stated that holding the examination in different time zones will compromise the uniformity of the NEET examinaare tion.The Centre had submitted that the time was too short to consider the request of the petitioner; the process of identification of exam centres, appointment of invigilators, and transport of question papers requires careful planning and execution. The government was also concerned about possible leakage of question papers as it would not have any control over the examination centres abroad.
The bench of justices L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhatt asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to consult the concerned government departments and ensure the overseas students appearing for NEET are allowed to travel by the Vande Bharat special flights. Before the Kerala high court, the ministry of external affairs had stated that students are eligible to take Vande Bharat flights.
The petitioner represented by advocate Harris Beeran also sought a relaxation in the 14-day mandatory quarantine period. The bench refused, saying, “We are afraid such a direction cannot be made as it involves public health of citizens pertaining to state governments.”
Beeran pointed out that in Kerala, the quarantine period has been extended to 28 days. At his request, the bench allowed the petitioner to approach the state government, seeking a relaxation in the quarantine period.
The bench favoured having online examination for NEET beginning next year in order to avoid hassles for students faced with similar situation in the future. The bench told MCI, “Why you not having NEET online when JEE is online and can be written from examination centres abroad. There are a number of students in the Gulf, Singapore and Malaysia appearing for NEET. Why can’t you think of something for next year? It will avoid troubles for so many people studying abroad.” MCI counsel Gaurav Sharma told the bench that he will convey the suggestion to the Board of Governors of MCI.
Less than 20 days remain for the NEET examination and for those students in the Gulf who have to appear in both NEET and JEE, it will be a hard choice, Beeran said. “Nearly 60% of students writing NEET have to appear in JEE as well. This examination will be held online and offline from September 1 to 6. If they manage to take a flight after this, there is hardly a chance for them to appear for NEET in India.” The bench understood the predicament of such students, but refused to pass an order because no student faced with such a situation appeared before the court.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to postpone the JEE and NEET exams due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation, saying lives of students should not be put at risk by taking such “unilateral and bureaucratic decisions”.