NEET PG: Telangana HC junks plea seeking postponement, Allows students to submit representation

Hyderabad: Observing that the dates of exams had been finalised around six months ago, the Telangana High Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking postponement of the NEET PG and NEET MDS exams, which are scheduled to be conducted in the first week of March.

The High Court bench comprising of Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice Pulla Karthik referred to the fact that the entrance exams for admission to PG medical and dental courses are conducted on an all India basis, the court opined that the postponement of the exams may not be feasible.

However, the bench has allowed the petitioners to approach the authorities and submit a representation seeking postponement of the exam within one week. Authorities, on the other hand, have been directed by the court to decide such representations expeditiously. In this context, the HC bench has also clarified that it has not expressed anything on the merits of the case.

Meanwhile, in order to ensure that from the coming year, MBBS/BDS students across the country do not face similar problems, the authorities have also been directed by the court that the candidates have a uniform cut-off date and they get sufficient time to prepare for NEET PG and NEET-MDS exams.

The petitions had been filed by students who completed their MBBS/BDS courses in 2021-2022. It was their case that they had completed MBBS course and their internship will continue till August 11, 2023. Meanwhile, National Board of Examinations issued the notification for NEET PG on 16th September, 2022 and it was stated that the exam would be conducted on March 5, 2023. NBE had also fixed the internship deadline as March 31,2023.

Later, since the internship deadline was extended up to August 11, 2023, the petitioners were made eligible to appear in the NEET PG examination. However, it was their grievance that they were not given with reasonable time to prepare for the exam, scheduled to be held in March. The situation was similar for the BDS graduates as well who are appearing in the NEET MDS course.

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As per the latest media report by Live Law, the counsel for National Medical Commission (NMC), Mrs. Gorinthla Poojitha and the Deputy Solicitor General of India contended that the notification for NEET had been issued way back on September 16, 2022 and the entire arrangements had been made on all India basis to conduct the examination and it would be a chaos if the examination got postponed in the last minute.

“For next academic year, every effort will be taken to ensure all the candidates who have completed MBBS/BDS course are made eligible and every opportunity will be given to the students to prepare for the examination and take up the examination, therefore the question of postponing the NEET P.G./NEET-MDS examination would not arise,” the further submitted.

After considering the submissions, the HC bench opined that postponing the NEET PG and NEET MDS exams may not be feasible because they are being conducted on all India basis and the dates had been finalized long back. However, the court directed NBE to ensure that from the next academic year, enough care should be taken to ensure that all the students are given sufficient time to prepare for NEET and a uniform cutoff date is fixed across the country.

Therefore, the bench denied to entertain the plea seeking the deferment of the exam. However, the petitioners were directed to submit a fresh representation before the authorities seeking postponement and the authorities were directed to pass appropriate orders in accordance with law expeditiously.