The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to respond to a challenge by students against an MCI norm laying down upper age limits for applying for NEET for MBBS and BDS courses.
Notice to Kerala govt.
A Bench comprising justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan also issued notice to the Kerala government on a plea by a group of 170 medical aspirants led by Jalaludheen T.
The case has been posted for hearing on July 10.
The aspirants have challenged the Delhi High Court’s May 11 judgment dismissing the pleas challenging the MCI notification of January 22, laying down the upper age limit of 25 years and 30 years for general and reserved categories respectively.
‘Completely arbitrary’
During a brief hearing, the counsel appearing for the students told the Supreme Court that the limitation of 25 years was “completely arbitrary”.
However, the High Court had earlier struck down a clause in the January 22 notification, which barred candidates who had studied in open school or students who have had Biology or Biotechnology as an additional subject or those who had taken more than two years to complete their 11th and 12th or those who had studied privately from appearing in the NEET.