Maharashtra Govt Appeals to Defer NEET 2016

The State Education Minister Vinod Tawde requested to either defer the NEET exam this year or to abolish the exam for 2016.

The Union Minister of Health, JP Nadda, has agreed to discuss the same and decide if the NEET exam will be deferred or not. He will take the required decision within four days while the Maharashtra Govt has requested to consider Common Entrance Exam (CET) as the exam to determine admissions to medical and dental courses.

• The CET was conducted on May 5.

“An all-party meeting over the issue will be held later in the evening. The state will urge the vacation bench of the Supreme Court to review the ruling on NEET,” Tawde said.

He said that they don’t want the judiciary and the executive to end up in a conflict and is hopeful for a reasonable answer and a positive outcome of the problem.

Failing which, however, there will be no option but to issue an ordinance abolishing NEET for 2016, the minister said.

According to Dr Pravin Shingare, Director of Medical Education and Research (DMER),about 23 states were represented in the meeting.

Several states have opposed the SC rule of considering NEET as the only test for admission to medical and dental courses in India turning down the appeal by many states to hold separate medical entrance exams.

In Maharashtra, as many as 3.9 lakh students appeared for the CET on May 5. Tawde said that there was very little time left for the state to join NEET this year. This is especially as NEET is based on the CBSE syllabus and the government will have to upgrade its HSC syllabus. After this, Maharashtra can join the NEET from 2017,” Tawde pointed out.