Dear Friends,
A three-judge bench of Supreme Court of India headed by CJI Justice Altamas Kabir (who
retires on 19th July 2013) has pronounced an important
judgment on 18th July 2013.
The Medical council of India had prescribed National Eligibility cum Entrance Test
(NEET) for admission
in MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses for improvement in standards
of medical education and medical students. The NEET is a single
entrance-cum-eligibility-test for admission in all medical
colleges in India. The
three-judge bench by a 2:1 majority (CJI Altamas Kabir and Justice Vikramajit
Sen) quashed the NEET and held that the Medical Council of India had no powers to conduct single entrance
examination.
However, the 3rd
judge Justice A.R.Dave gave separate dissenting judgment and held that the
notification prescribing NEET for admission to medical colleges is not only
legal but is a boon for students aspiring to join medical profession. He
inter-alia observed : “In my opinion,
introduction of the NEET would ensure more transparency and
less hardship to the student eager to join the medical profession. Let us see the consequence, if the apex bodies of medical profession are
not permitted to conduct the NEET. A student, who is good at studies and
is keen to join the medical profession, will have to visit several
different States to appear at different examinations held by
different medical colleges or institutes so as to ensure that he gets
admission somewhere. If he
appears only in one examination conducted by a
particular University in a particular State and if he fails there, he
would not stand
a chance to get medical education at any other place.
The NEET will facilitate all students desirous of joining
the medical profession because the students will have to
appear only at one examination and on the basis of the result of the NEET,
if he is found suitable,
he would be in a position to get admission somewhere in the country
and he can have the medical
education if he
is inclined to
go to a
different place. Incidentally, I
may state here that learned senior counsel Mr. Gupta had informed the
Court that some medical colleges who are more in a profiteering business rather
than in the noble work of imparting medical education, take huge amount
by way of donation or capitation fees and give admission to undeserving
or weak students under one pretext or the other. He had also
given an instance
to support the serious allegation made by him on the subject.
If only one examination in the country is conducted
and admissions are given on the basis of the result of the
said examination, in
my opinion, unscrupulous and
money minded businessmen operating in
the field of
education would be constrained to stop their corrupt practices and it would help a lot, not only to the
deserving students but also to the nation in bringing down the level of
corruption”.
The majority judgment will
help Private
Colleges who
sell MBBS seats on caption. It is understood that Govt. is planning to refer
this judgment to a Constitution Bench.
Sunil Goel advocate
B.Sc. L.Lb L.Lm
