M A I N   N E W S

Decks cleared for medical college admissions
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, May 13
The Supreme Court today allowed medical colleges across the country to admit students for undergraduate and postgraduate courses - MBBS, MD, MS, BDS and MDS -- for the 2013-14 academic year either through the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) or through any other existing means.

A three-member Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir clarified that the admission process for the coming years would depend on its judgment to be delivered in the first week of July on a bunch of petitions filed by more than 100 colleges challenging the NEET.

The Bench said it was allowing admissions under the existing methods in the interest of the students as well as patients, who were being affected by dearth of doctors in several colleges-cum-hospitals in view of the delay in the admission to post graduate courses.

Through a notification issued on December 21, 2010, the Medical Council of India had directed all the medical colleges to take students only through NEET. This was challenged by reputed unaided, private medical colleges, contending that the notification was against the SC guidelines in the TMA Pai case granting autonomy to them in admissions and other aspects.

A number of private medical colleges have been taking students either through tests conducted by individual institutions, their associations or the concerned state governments. The MCI introduced NEET, contending that these methods had bred corruption and malpractices, besides placing a huge burden on students as they have to write multiple tests conducted at various places in the country.