State seeks Supreme Court nod for entrance test

Single exam will hit students: colleges

Several states, including Karnataka, approached the Supreme Court on Monday seeking permission to hold their own entrance exams for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses.

Also, the Karnataka Private Medical and Dental Colleges Association, Association of Managements of Unaided Private Medical and Dental College, and others contended before the court that holding a single admission test would adversely affect students due to last-minute finalisation of schedule.

The apex court on April 28 gave approval to the CBSE, the examination conducting body, to hold National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) I on May 2 and NEET II on July 24 for admission to medical colleges, including those run by minority institutions, across the country.

In its plea, Karnataka contended that preparation for holding the Common Entrance Test (CET) on May 4 and 5 has been completed, including preparation of question papers, arrangement for evaluation and affixing 391 examination centres across 54 cities.

Karnataka has been a pioneer in the field as it has been holding the test since 1994 for admission to 282 medical colleges and 848 dental colleges, the application filed by advocate Anita Shenoy stated.

The petition further contended that NEET would jeopardise chances of students from the state, especially those from the rural background.

Though the application filed in the Supreme Court confined its plea for permission to hold CET in the academic year 2016-17, the state is also planning a substantive petition for challenging the validity of the NEET, sources said.

The Karnataka’s application was mentioned before a bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur by Advocate-General Madhusudan R Naik.

Only deferment

The advocate-general told DH that Karnataka would only seek for a deferment, and would not make any other submission. “We are only concerned about the suddenness of NEET, and students not being prepared for the same,” said Naik.

NEET issue

* State says single test will dent chances of rural candidates
* Private institutions say last-minute finalisation will hit students’ performance
* Advocate General says state will only seek deferment
* Matter to be heard today