The Supreme Court today, Friday, February 16, issued a notice on the plea seeking to decide internship cut-off dates for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test - Master of Dental Surgery (NEET MDS). 

During the hearing on Friday, February 16, the Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud brought up the issue of internship completion cut-offs and said that the issue will now be heard on Wednesday, February 21, as reported by LiveLaw.in.

To recall, a group of NEET-MDS aspirants recently approached the Supreme Court demanding the postponement of the medical examination because the current internship cut-off date, March 31, 2024, renders many ineligible for the exams as their internship will not conclude before the stated cut-off date. 

The petitioners have highlighted that around 8,000 candidates are not eligible for the exam due to cut-off internship dates. They added that since the commencement of the internship was delayed due to COVID-19 and the date was not uniform for all medical colleges in India. Therefore, owing to the delayed commencement of the internship, candidates are allegedly not eligible for the MDS exam.

Initially scheduled for February 9, the NEET MDS 2024 exam has been rescheduled to March 18, 2024, according to a notice dated January 20 by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). However, the candidates argue that the examination should be postponed to July so it could align with NEET PG 2024 and the combined counselling can happen seamlessly.