Again, student aspirants for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) have approached the Supreme Court to challenge the May 7 notice issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India which refused to lower the percentile for qualification of NEET BDS course for the academic session 2021-2022.

With the intention of seeking an urgent listing of the plea, on Monday, May 9, Senior Advocate Paramjit Singh Patwalia mentioned the matter before the bench of Justice DY Chandrachud. As a result, the bench has agreed to hear the same on Wednesday, May 11, as stated in a report by LiveLaw.in.

It may be recalled that on May 1, the top court had asked the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to consider again its stand to not lower the qualifying cut-off percentile for admissions to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) within a period of one week.

Considering the fact that the last date for BDS admissions was extended to May 15, as opposed to April 11 earlier, and that the Executive Committee of the Dental Council of India (DCI), in its meeting held on April 6, recommended the Centre to reduce the qualifying percentile, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli had issued the direction.

Based on the criteria of eligibility that were laid down as per the BDS Regulations, the petitioners, as well as several other students, have not been able to bag the minimum marks and hence, do not qualify for BDS courses. This was stated in the petition.

The petition also stated that on April 6, 2022,  the Executive Committee recommended reducing the qualifying cut-off percentile with regards to the NEET-BDS 2021 by 10.00 percentile for each category.

Against this background, the petitioners further sought for directing the concerned authority to conduct Mop Up round of counselling for the vacant seats after the publishing of the revised qualifying cut off percentile.