NEET 2020: SC refuses to hear plea seeking postponement; exam to be held on Sept 13

Supreme Court of India refused to hear the plea to defer NEET 2020 exam on Wednesday. The top court has said that the examinations will be conducted across the country as scheduled by NTA while rejecting all review petitions along with fresh petitions. Senior lawyers of Supreme Court filed the fresh plea in the Apex court seeking postponement and requested for more examination centres. NEET exams are scheduled to be conducted on September 13, 2020.

SC refuses to hear plea to defer NEET exam

Supreme Court refused to hear any fresh plea or review petition seeking postponement of NEET 2020 examination on September 9. According to reports, the apex court said that everything is over and that the exams will be conducted as per the schedule set by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The review petitions and fresh pleas filed reportedly cited the floods and lockdown as reasons for the postponement but the top court said that aspirants will be provided with all help needed to give the exam. 

Read | NEET Exam Aspirants Told 'there Is hope' By Subramanian Swamy Before Supreme Court Hearing

The Supreme Court also dismissed the plea filed by Senior advocates of the court in a last-ditch effort to postpone NEET 2020. Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava had filed 2 more petitions in support of postponement of NEET 2020, more examination centres, conducting NEET in 5 to 6 shifts as well as the option of re-exam which was also rejected by Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Read | 'Postpone NEET If Classes Won't Start Till 2021 Amid COVID Crisis,' Says Subramanian Swamy

Earlier the apex court had refused to hear the review petition which challenged the decision the conduct NEET and JEE which was filed by West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak, Jharkhand Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Chhattisgarh Civil Supplies Minister Amarjeet Bhagat, Punjab Labour Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, and Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant.

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Subramanian Swamy suggests NEET 2020 postponement

Earlier, Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Subramanian Swamy took to Twitter to urge the authorities to postpone the NEET 2020 examination. He said that because colleges and institutes will not resume regular classes until January 2021 there is no reason to not delay the entrance exam. Swamy also suggested the exams be scheduled after Diwali as the COVID-19 threat will be reduced. 

Read | NEET-JEE Row: Subramanian Swamy Demands Statewise Percentage of Students Taking Exam

More on NEET 2020

According to NTA, over 15 lakh students have registered for NEET 2020 examination across the country. Considering the COVID-19 outbreak in the nation, NTA has increased the number of examination centres in the country from 2,546 to 3,843. This step was taken by NTA in an attempt to ensure that social distancing norms are followed. The JEE 2020 exams were conducted by NTA from September 1 to 6. 

Read | NEET, JEE 2020: Supreme Court Declines To Hear Review Petition On Exam Postponement