JOIN USCentre seeks SC nod to hold NEET in vernaculars
The Centre on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to conduct the single common entrance test for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses in vernacular languages as well.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar submitted before a bench presided over by Justice Anil R Dave that students, who studied in vernacular medium, will suffer, if the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was not held in the languages in which they studied till class XII level.
The court had on Monday ruled that only NEET would enable students to admission to MBBS and BDS courses in medical colleges across the country. Around 6.5 lakh students took up the NEET-I test held on May 1.
The Centre submitted that NEET should also be conducted in Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali and Urdu, apart from Hindi and English, to enable students to perform up to their optimum level. The bench led by Justice Dave said the matter would be considered.
Notably, the court has not prohibited the CBSE, the examination conducting body, to consider the issue of preparing question paper in vernacular languages. The previous NEET held in 2013 had provisions for students to take examination in vernacular languages.
Meanwhile, the Medical Council of India also mentioned before the court seeking modification of the Constitution bench decision for setting up an oversight committee headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice R M Lodha over the regulatory body.