The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed medical aspirants aged above 25 years to submit their applications for this year’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (Under Graduate).
The High Court came as an interim relief to thousands of students who were barred from even applying for the pan-India exam, after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a notification on February 8 prescribing an upper age limit of 25 and 30 for general and reserved categories respectively, to be eligible to appear for NEET (UG).
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar, however, clarified that it was only allowing the students to submit their application forms as the last date is March 9.
Not the final decision
The Bench said it would decide on the question of whether to allow the students to sit for the entrance exam at a later stage. The court posted the case for hearing on April 6.
Senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, who represented the students, contended before the court that the upper age restriction for admission to medical colleges was arbitrary and illegal. Mr. Gupta argued that no rationale was applied by the board while taking the decision. “Upper age limit has no nexus with the standard of medical education,” he said. Mr. Gupta gave examples of the country’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the norms followed in countries such as the U.S. and the United Kingdom which do not prescribe any maximum age for admission to MBBS courses.