NEET-UG won't be postponed: Delhi HC dismisses aspirants' petition
The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition by several National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) aspirants seeking to postpone the competitive examination scheduled to be held on Sunday. Coming down heavily upon the students, the HC said if petitioners would have been somebody other than the students, it would have imposed heavy fine for such misconceived petition.
Why does this story matter?
#MODIJIdeferNEETUG trended on social media a few days ago as students urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reschedule the entrance exam. Students reappearing for NEET-UG claimed that the NEET-UG 2021 counseling ended in March, giving them only three months to revise the whole syllabus. Meanwhile, the overlap between all the scheduled major national-level entrance exams is another concern for many students across streams.
HC called plea without merit
The high court held that there was no merit in the petition and said it was a misconceived plea. Justice Sanjeev Narula said that if such matters are filed in the future, the court will not shy away from imposing costs. The HC also questioned the petitioners' counsel, Mamta Sharma for approaching the court at the last moment. It was filed by 15 aspirants.
Petitioners sought exam postponement by 4-6 weeks
The petitioners had sought to set aside the July 17 date for the entrance test and re-schedule it after four to six weeks. The petition stated that since the class 12th board examination ended in mid-June, students have been forced to appear for three national-level examinations--NEET, Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), and Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) without getting sufficient time to prepare.
What is NEET-UG exam?
The NEET-UG is a national-level medical entrance exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Candidates clearing NEET-UG can secure admission to Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, bachelor-level programs in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH), and other related courses at government/private colleges. It is held in the pen-and-paper mode for a duration of 200 minutes.
NTA also announced dates for CUET in June
In June, the NTA announced the dates for the CUET-UG, which will be administered between July 15 and August 10. The NEET-UG is scheduled for July 17, and the JEE (Main) is scheduled for July 21-30. While calls to postpone the CUET have gained traction since the dates were announced, "postpone NEET" has already been trending on social media for more than two months.
