By Express News Service
CHENNAI: Coming to the rescue of the students aspiring to become doctors, the Madras High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to allot nearby centres for writing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions on May 6.A Division Bench of Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and M Dhandapani issued this direction while disposing of a PIL petition from advocate S Kalimuthu Mylavan on Friday.
Because of the allotment of exam centres in other States, the local candidates will have to travel long distance and there will be financial implications for those candidates. It appears that many students, who have applied for NEET, are from rural areas and they cannot afford travel and accommodation. Further safety is the most important aspect. In view of the above said circumstances, the Bench said it directed the CBSE to allot local centres to the candidates. The candidates, who have been allotted centres in faraway place, shall be allotted centres adjacent to their places of residence or at least in Tamil Nadu at the earliest.
The revised allotment shall be informed to the candidates by the CBSE through its website or through newspaper advertisements. Similarly, candidates who have been allotted centres in other states can apply for local exam centres and get fresh allotment at the earliest. According to petitioner, even though the candidates had chosen three centres of their choice near their residences to write the exam, they were allotted centres in other states. The candidates from the Southern districts, more particularly in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Nagercoil and Tiruchy, were allotted centres in Kerala and Rajasthan.
The allotment of exam centres outside Tamil Nadu is totally against the CBSE’s own instructions set out in Chapter 2 rule 4 (c) of the information bulletin, petitioner said and prayed to the court to quash the public notice issued by the CBSE on April 18 last and order reallotment of exam centres.
