On Tuesday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court asking for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) slated for March 12 to be postponed. According to the petition, many MBBS graduates will be unable to sit for the exam because the obligatory internship term has not been completed.
The plea has been filed by six MBBS graduates and seeks the issuance of a direction to the National Board of Examination for the postponement of the NEET PG 2022 examination to facilitate the completion of various requirements set forth in the PG Regulations by several aspirants.
As per the NEET PG regulations, 30 beds in a hospital have to be assigned to one unit of students pursuing the PG course, whereas now, two students from two academic sessions will have to be accommodated in the same facility.
The lawyer firm for the MBBS aspirants said that the petition challenges the violation of NEET PG regulations, 2000, while admitting candidates for academic sessions in one session as there is an “explicit cap on the number of PG admissions to be done per year per unit.”
The plea states that several hundred MBBS graduates whose internships were paused due to their duty in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic will be rendered ineligible from appearing in the NEET-PG test due to lack of mandatory internship duty that too without their fault.
The plea also challenges the condition provided in the information bulletin which states May 31, 2022 as the deadline for the completion of internship.
The petition further referred to a statement made on May 3, 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that NEET-PG 2021 be deferred by at least four months and that the services of MBBS doctors in their final years will be used to handle mild Covid-19 cases
The lawyer appearing for NEET PG aspirants said, “The petitioners (with 1500 candidates) have mentioned that they were in Covid duties in the year 2021 and therefore their internship was postponed. ”
“They have submitted that they are victims of circumstances and that they were not informed at any time that serving in Covid-19 duties would tantamount to a situation where they will not be eligible to appear for the NEET-PG,” the lawyer informed further.
(Inputs from PTI)
