The Supreme Court, today, Friday, March 15, refused to intervene in the plea seeking postponement of the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test - Master of Dental Surgery (NEET-MDS) 2024 examination.
The exam will be held on Monday, March 18, as scheduled by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) earlier.
While hearing the matter on Friday, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said, “An effort has been made by the National Dental Commission (NDC) to bring back on rails the commencement of dental courses to the pre-COVID schedule. This cannot be regarded as arbitrary to seek intervention of court. On parameters of judicial review, we think it is inappropriate to interfere at this stage. We decline to intervene in the present matter.”
The Union Government told the Supreme Court that it has extended the internship cut-off date for the NEET MDS exam from March 31, 2024 to June 30, 2024 and 568 additional students have registered as a result of the above decision. It further added that over 28,000 students are set to appear for the examination on Monday, March 18 and any decision taken by the court at this stage would affect them.
Taking note of this, the apex court refused to take a decision on the matter.
Background
The NEET-MDS aspirants approached the Supreme Court on February 16 urging for the postponement of the exam and revision of the cut-off date for completion of the internships, claiming that more than 8,000 students will not be able to finish their internships before the cut-off date due to COVID-induced delays, barring them from the exam.
The Supreme Court disposed of the petition, on February 21, directing the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to “take a call” on the matter within a week.
On March 7, the NBEMS released a notice extending the cut-off date for completion of the internship for eligibility in NEET-MDS till June 30, 2024. The exam date, however, remained unchanged.
Following this, the students filed a miscellaneous application in the Supreme Court to reopen the petition, stating that the Union had not taken a decision.
