SC relaxes upper age limit for NEET, extends last date for applications

In a major relief for medical aspirants, the Supreme Court on Thursday relaxed the upper age limit of 25 years for students to apply for the 2019 National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS (medical) and BDS (dental) courses.

A bench headed by Justice SA Bobde, however, clarified that admissions would be subject to the final outcome of the case on the validity of the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) decision to fix the upper age limit.

The top court also extended by a week the last date for submitting NEET application forms for students who could not apply under the earlier age limit. Prior to Thursday’s court order, the last date for submitting forms was November 30. Court directed, “The portal of the National Testing Agency shall remain open for one week to enable such petitioners/candidates to apply for the NEET-UG 2019 examination.”

Earlier, the CBSE had notified the upper age limit of 25 and 30 years, respectively, for general and reserved categories to apply for the NEET-UG, which has to be cleared to pursue MBBS and BDS courses. The SC order comes on a bunch of petitions that challenged the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) decision to keep an upper age limit to take the NEET.

The petitions claimed that the age limit imposed was ‘arbitrary’, and in most reputed institutions like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), there was no age limit for appearing in the entrance exam.

The court had earlier agreed to examine the validity of an amendment to the MCI Regulations on Graduate Medical Education of 1997. The amendment that was notified on January 22 stipulated an upper age limit of 25 years for general category and of 30 years for those belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes as well as those in the physically handicapped categories.

NEW DELHI: