MCI tells SC postponing NEET 2020 will be 'drastic deviation' from academic schedule

While students have continued with their demand for postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate (UG), the Medical Council of India (MCI) told the Supreme Court that any delay would be a “drastic deviation” from the academic schedule which might further “affect the subsequent academic years” of the students. 

In an affidavit filed on Friday, August 21, the MCI noted that the issue regarding the foreign examination centres for NEET does not require the involvement of country’s apex court because the government has already permitted the travel under Vande Bharat Mission. The affidavit was filed in response to the plea that sought directives to conduct the examinations at centres in Gulf nations. 

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Under the Vande Bharat Mission, the government has already permitted Indian citizens including the ones residing in foreign countries to arrive in India via special flights. The Council is reported to have mentioned the same while seeking rejection of the plea. 

"In order to fairly conduct an examination like NEET, which has to be a uniform examination, it is imperative that the examination is conducted at the same time everywhere, which shall not be possible, if the examination is conducted in outside countries due to various reasons including different time zones, logistical issues, the secrecy of test papers being a booklet-based examination, etc," the plea said.

It also added that if NEET is not conducted for all candidates at the same time, the "sanctity of the said examination will be lost" and cited the possibility of question papers being leaked. The matter will now come up for hearing in Supreme Court on August 24. 

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Parents of 4,000 candidates file plea

Earlier, parents of over 4,000 candidates appearing for NEET 2020 filed a plea in Supreme court seeking to postpone the examination until the COVID-19 pandemic normalises. The parents of candidates residing in places like Doha, Qatar, Oman, and UAE had approached the Supreme Court challenging the decision taken by Kerala High Court on June 30 that has already dismissed their plea. 

The students have even denoted National Testing Agency's decision of not adhering to their demands as “harassment” and are calling for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to indulge in the issue and allow the postponing. NEET 2020 would be conducted on September 13, 2020, and the National Testing Agency (NTA) has declared that admit cards would be released on August 28 or August 29. Earlier, these examinations were set to take place in July but the dates were shifted due to the situation of COVID-19 in the country. 

(With ANI Inputs)

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