NEET Age Criterion revised in NMC GMER 2023

New Delhi: Introducing changes in the rules of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) Examination, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has revised the minimum age criterion for the candidates appearing for the exam.

While previously, the cut-off date was December 31 of the concerned admission year, in the newly-notified Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, NMC has modified this provision. 

The new provision states that candidates appearing in the NEET examination must have completed the age of 17 years on or before January 31 of the concerned admission year to be declared eligible for the exam.

As per Regulation 4(1) of the Medical Council of India Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997, "No Candidate shall be allowed to be admitted to the Medical Curriculum proper of first Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Course until: (1) He/she shall complete the age of 17 years on or before 31st December of the year of admission to the MBBS Course."

While, earlier, the constitutional validity of the minimum age bar for NEET was questioned by aspirants, it has been upheld time and again. Now, the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of NMC has further modified the age criterion for NEET-UG.

Referring to the Eligibility Criteria for appearing in the NEET UG examination, the recently notified Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023 mentioned that no aspirant shall be allowed to appear in the NEET UG-

"a. unless he has completed the age of 17 years as on or before 31st January of the year that the candidate shall be appearing for NEET- UG examination; and

These regulations were published in The Gazette of India on June 02, 2023 and NMC has also notified about these new rules on its official website nmc.org.in.

Apart from fixing the eligibility criteria for NEET-UG, the regulations also mentioned that there shall be a common counselling for admission to graduate courses in medicine for all medical institutions in India based on the merit list of the NEET-UG.

Also Read: NEET: AP High Court junks plea challenging Minimum Age criteria

"Counselling shall entirely be based on the seat matrix provided by National Medical Commission; Provided the common counseling may have multiple rounds as may be necessary," it added.

According to the Regulations, the UGMEB shall publish guidelines for the conduct of common counselling, and the designated authority under section 17 below shall conduct the common counselling in conformity with such published guidelines.

"The Government of India will decide and notify the agency and method of counseling of all undergraduate seats," it mentioned.

According to the Regulations, "...the UGMEB shall publish the model curriculum and the outcome objectives of the same from time to time on the NMC website, which shall form the base for the development of a detailed medical curriculum by the concerned Universities, along with the appropriate methodology to impart meaningful education."

Welcoming the regulations, a parent of an MBBS student told HT, “This process will help bring transparency into the medical admission process and give all students a fair chance to get into college as per their merit. In the old process, high-scoring students used to block two seats, one in the AIQ and another in the state quota. With this new process, this is not possible for any student.”

However, raising concerns regarding the modified age criteria for NEET-UG, an activist Sudha Shenoy told Hindustan Times, “The age criteria as per the gazette: applicants should have completed 17 years on January 31 of the year of admission. But this should be December 31 of the admission year; otherwise, many students will become ineligible for the exam.”

She further mentioned that the new regulation will help put a stop to the backdoor entries in medical colleges against the Non-resident of India (NRI) quota. 

Meanwhile, the former director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) Pravin Shingare added, “The central government should make sure about the agency they hired for the admission to streamline an errorless admission process.”

Also Read:NMC Mulls Over Removal of Upper Age Cap in MBBS Entrance Exam