NEET MDS 2024 not Postponed: Aspirants Approach Supreme Court again
New Delhi: Disappointed with the fact that the NEET-MDS 2024 exam has not been postponed, the aspirants for Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) courses have once again approached the Supreme Court.
Although the exam is scheduled to be conducted on March 18, the aspirants have been demanding the postponement of the same to July 2024.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the MDS aspirants had approached the Supreme Court previously, seeking postponement of the exam and an extension of the BDS internship completion deadline.
During the hearing of the plea seeking postponement of the NEET MDS 2024 exam, the Union Government had informed the Supreme Court bench that it was looking into the grievances of the candidates regarding the extension of the internship deadline.
Considering this submission, the Apex Court bench had not passed any order on 21st February and had directed the authorities to consider the representations submitted within a period of one week. The Apex Court had clarified that the bench did not express any opinion on the merits of the case and "...it will be open to the union government to take an appropriate view having regard to the entire facts and circumstances."
However, the NEET MDS 2024 exam did not get rescheduled and yesterday, issuing a notice in this regard, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) confirmed that the exam would be conducted on its scheduled date i.e. on 18th March, 2024. However, based on the directions issued by the Union Health Ministry, NBEMS extended the deadline for completion of BDS internship till 30th June, 2024.
As per the latest media report by Live Law, expressing concern over the lack of action on the part of the Union Government, the petitioners filed a Miscellaneous Application (MA) seeking restoration of the writ petition which was earlier disposed of by the Court based on the assurance given by the Union Government. The petitioners alleged that the Union Government did not take a final decision within a week of receiving representations from the students.
The counsel for the petitioners mentioned the application before the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud yesterday morning and the CJI asked the counsel to send an email request and stated that a date for listing would be fixed.
In their recent application, the petitioners highlighted that the Union Government has not taken a decision regarding the postponement of the exam despite the looming examination date.
As per the application, the petitioners submitted, "However, despite the order and despite the examination date looming in, the respondents have not taken any decision in this regard till Date."
"A number of emails and representations were submitted to the respondents both through email and in physical form wherein the dental students have set out their grievances and reiterated their request to postpone the exam and increase the cutoff date. However, the respondents have not acted upon any such representations till date," the application further mentioned.
Seeking restoration of the plea, the petitioners have urged the Court to issue directions to the Union Government to comply with the order dated 21.02.2024. Further, they also requested the Court to order the rescheduling of NEET-MDS 2024 exams, emphasizing parity with the common counselling for NEET PG and NEET MDS.
Apart from this, the petitioners also demanded an extension of the eligibility cut-off date in the application, considering the delayed completion of internships by BDS students.
The Prayer of the application, as reported by Live Law, seeks the following :
a) Pass an order allowing the application for restoration of the above-captioned writ petition and direct the respondents to comply with the order dated 21.02.2024 passed by this Hon'ble Court in the present writ petition.
b) Pass an order thereby directing the Respondents to reschedule NEET MDS 2024 in furtherance of the consistent practice and policy to conduct entrance exam and common counselling for NEET PG and NEET MDS, parity.
c) Pass an order thereby directing the Respondents to extend last date of cut-off for eligibility suitably
i) after ascertaining internship completion date from universities offering MDS Course across India;
ii) in accordance with existing policy to conduct entrance exam and common counselling for NEET PG and NEET MDS and/or;
d) pass any other order that is deemed fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.
The application also highlighted the discriminatory nature of fixing the eligibility cut-off March 31, 2024 highlighting that 40% of the 2018 batch BDS interns would not complete their internships by the deadline. The petitioners argued on the overlapping of the UG course curriculum for BDS and MBBS students, both facing delays due to the COVID-19 period. In their plea, the petitioners stressed the need for a uniform approach. They also questioned the discrepancy in the cut-off dates for MBBS and BDS students.
"Roughly 8000 students all across India including Kerala, Orissa, MP, UP, J&K, AP & Rajasthan will be excluded," the petitioners submitted.
"Therefore, it is discriminatory for the cutoff date to be pushed back from 31 March 2024 to 15th August 2024 for the 2018 batch of MBBS interns, and not for the BDS students. Counselling for the MBBS students and BDS students after the internship period is over has always been held at the same time," they demanded.
Meanwhile, recently, the Dental Council of India (DCI) issued a notice and announced that the counselling session will be held separately for NEET MDS 2024 before NEET PG Medical Counselling.
The DCI notice stated, "It is hereby informed to all MDS aspirants that the Govt. of India may conduct the counselling session for NEET-MDS 2024 separately and before NEET PG Medical Counselling."
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