Petition against NEET postponement dismissed

Petition against NEET postponement dismissed

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:17.06.2021

The Karnataka high court has dismissed a PIL that challenged the central government’s decision to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). A division bench headed by Justice BV Nagarathna observed that the decision to hold the test after August 31 cannot be faulted as it was taken after consulting experts.

“We find that the postponement of NEET was on account of the circumstances and based on experts’ views. This is not a case where there is cancellation of NEET this year. It is only a case of postponement from April 2021 because of the second wave of Covid-19 and the need to enlist services of doctors so as to manage the medical facilities and attend to patients,” the bench noted.

Dr Vinod G Kulkarni, a consulting neuropsychiatrist, advocate and activist, had filed the PIL through the Late GB Kulkarni Memorial Legal Trust on May 8. NEET-2021 was earlier scheduled to be held on April

18. He said that because of the postponement, medicos’ plans to pursue post-graduate studies were affected and they suffered from stress, anxiety and depression. He argued that when other exams were being conducted during the pandemic, there was no reason to defer NEET.

The Centre defended the move, saying that because of the severe nature of the pandemic, a policy decision was taken in mid-April at the highest level. The court was told that NEET aspirants were recruited to assist doctors at Covid hospitals.