The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed candidates aged 25 years and above to apply and appear in the NEET-UG 2019 examination.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice S.A. Bobde observed that “If they are allowed to appear in the examination, they shall take the examination provisionally subject to the final outcome of these matters (case)”.
The court directed the National Testing Agency (NTA), set up to conduct the NEET exams, to keep its portal open for a week to enable candidates to apply for the exam. The court further impleaded NTA as a party in the case, asking it to file its response in four weeks and posted the case for January.
The medical aspirants led by Jalaludheen T. had approached the Supreme Court against a Medical Council of India norm laying down upper age limits for applying for NEET for MBBS and BDS courses.
The group of aspirants have challenged the Delhi High Court’s May 11 judgement dismissing the pleas challenging the MCI notification of January 22, laying down the upper age limit of 25 years and 30 years for general and reserved categories, respectively.
The students have argued that the limitation of 25 years was “completely arbitrary”.
They said lifting the upper age limits' criterion would usher in more competitiveness, talent and would be ultimately for the betterment of the medical professions. They said the country needed more doctors.
However, the High Court had earlier struck down a clause in the January 22 notification, which barred candidates who have studied in open school or students who have had Biology or Biotechnology as an additional subject or those who had taken more than two years to complete their 11th and 12th or those who had studied privately from appearing in NEET.
