Health Minister J. P. Nadda, on Tuesday, said that all private medical colleges will come under the ambit of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.
“All private institutions and medical colleges will come under the ambit of NEET. The State governments will get an option to either conduct their own exam or go for NEET to fill UG seats. However, for PG courses, exams will be held under NEET in December this year,” Mr. Nadda told reporters.
“There are States which have deferred their exam like U.P. while Bihar has opted for NEET. They have an option. But these seats will be filled either by NEET or State governments,” he added.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi was at the President’s Secretariat early Tuesday morning along with top Ministry officials to respond to clarifications sought by Mr. Mukherjee on the common examination.
Mr. Nadda said the ordinance has a provision where an exemption has been given to the State governments. He said the NEET examination will be conducted on July 24.
“All State seats will be filled up either by NEET or by their State examination board and in private medical colleges, the quota that they have for States will also be filled up by the State list or NEET list. PG examination in December 2016 will be a complete NEET,” he said.
He said the States had not effectively put forth their views in the right perspective before the Supreme Court.
“In order to provide them relief, we brought this Ordinance,” he said. “The government was very clear from the beginning that it was in favour of NEET.”
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Chandigarh have conducted exams under NEET. Bihar, too, has opted for NEET from this year though Delhi is yet to take a decision, he said.
Mr. Nadda said the States that have deferred the exams are West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Andhra Pradesh.
