HC dismisses PIL challenging postponement of NEET 2021
The high court has dismissed a public interest litigation challenging the decision to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test beyond August 31.
A division bench of Justice BV Nagarathna has noted that the central government’s decision to hold the test after August 31 cannot be faulted as it would have been taken based on the opinion of experts and sound discretion being exercised by the ministry of health and family welfare. “This is not a case where there is cancellation of NEET this year. It is only a case of postponement from April 2021 due to the second wave of Covid-19 and the need to enlist the services of doctors for duties to manage the medical facilities and attend to the patients suffering from the disease,” the bench noted.
Dr. Vinod G Kulkarni, a consulting neuropsychiatrist, advocate, and social activist had filed the PIL on May 8 through the Late GB Kulkarni Memorial Legal Trust of which he is the president. NEET-2021 was slated to be held on April 18. According to him, due to the postponement, doctors aspiring to do post-graduate studies had to suffer from stress, anxiety, and depression as their plans were unsettled. He claimed that when all other exams were being conducted during the pandemic, there was no reason to postpone NEET. On the other hand, the Centre defended the move, saying that owing to the severe nature of the pandemic, which affected the country this year from March till the end of May, a policy decision was taken in mid-April at the highest level to postpone NEET. The court was told that NEET aspirants, those doing their internships as well as final-year students of MBBS and nursing, were recruited to assist doctors in Covid hospitals.
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