NEET 2018 eligibility criteria: Delhi HC put on hold CBSE’s notification, students can apply for exam

 NEET 2018 eligibility criteria: The Delhi High Court today stayed the CBSE notification laying down eligibility conditions, including upper age limit of 25 years and 30 years for general and reserved categories respectively, to apply for MBBS course.
 
The order was passed by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar on petitions moved by medical aspirants who are aggrieved by various eligibility norms barring them from applying for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-UG. 
 
The petition, challenging the Medical Council of India’s decision to set an upper age limit, said that such a decision was against the Supreme Court direction which had held that there should not be any age limit for appearing for the examination to get admission in MBBS course. The petition was filed by two MBBS aspirants from Kerala.
 
Last year, the government introduced the upper age limit. After a massive protest among the medical aspirants, the apex court had allowed students above 25 years to sit for the NEET exam.
 
Candidates who have studied in open school, students who have had biology as an additional subject, those who have taken more than two years to complete their Class-11 and Class 12 will not be eligible to apply for the exam, according to the CBSE notification.
The court said while the candidates are allowed to submit their applications for NEET, it does not mean that they can sit for the exam.
 
The bench also said students from open school or those who have studied privately should belong to a recognised board.
The court's interim order will stay till the next date of hearing on April 6.
 
Petitioners Jalaludheen T and Suresh T, who have completed courses in Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS), alleged that the upper age limit was “arbitrary and unreasonable”.
 
They have contended in their plea,  that the Supreme Court had quashed the age limit prescribed by CBSE for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
 
The petition said, “The duration of BAMS and BHMS courses are five and a half years. If a person wants to take NEET-UG after completion of his course, it becomes difficult for him to do so due to the upper age limit prescribed infringing their fundamental rights enshrined under our Constitution,”