SC refuses to stay NEET ordinance
Taking into consideration the interests of lakhs of students, the SC on Thursday refused to stay the NEET ordinance exempting states from its purview for this academic year, though it observed that the ordinance violated the spirit of the May 9 order.
The bench in its order made it clear to Tamil Nadu that the law enacted by it abolishing entrance tests will not help them next year as the May 24 ordinance itself says that there should be a common entrance test for medical admissions.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice A. R. Dave reacted sharply to the contention of attorney- general Mukul Rohatgi that it should not take the NEET ordinance to its “ego” as it pertains to the welfare of students who have prepared for months for various state medical examinations.
The SC bench said: “Hearing of the petitions against the ordinance expedited. Though prima facie the validity of the ordinance is open to debate, since almost 50 per cent of the states have conducted their own tests for MBBS/ BDS, we do not want to grant any interim relief.” The bench made it clear to Mr Rohatgi that the ordinance prima facie was against the spirit of the court’s order. Justice Dave observed: “The ordinance is not proper. It is not warranted. By ordering NEET we wanted to ensure that the minimum standards of eligibility are not compromised. Our order is in the larger interests of society as we know that ` 50 lakhs to ` 1 crore is being paid by students in private medical colleges.”
Mr Rohatgi strongly opposed the challenge to the ordinance, saying there was “nothing wrong” with it and the government was “well within its plenary right” to come up with it. Pointing out that many states have conducted their own exams after the May 9 order and before the May 24 ordinance, Justice A. K. Goel said these exams are illegal, patently bad and are of no consequence.