NEET 2018: CBSE issues notice allowing all candidates to apply

NEW DELHI, MARCH 3: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a notice dated March 1, 2018, as per which all candidates who were earlier ruled ineligible by the new NEET eligibility rules can apply for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.

The notice comes soon after the interim orders issued by the Delhi High Court on February 26 and February 28, 2018, which stayed the changes made to the NEET eligibility criteria this year.

As per the public notice issued by the CBSE, the following candidates can now submit their application form for NEET 2018:

1. Candidates belonging to UR category aged above 25 years

2. Candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC category and persons entitled for reservation under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 aged above 30 years

3. Candidates from NIOS/State Open School

4. Candidates who have passed Biology as an additional subject.

5. Candidates who have passed as a private candidate

The notice also states that this is “as per the directives of Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in W.P(C)1813/2018 dated 26/02/2018 and in W.P(C) 1906/2018 and other connected matters dated 28/02/2018”. Going by the Delhi High Court’s instructions, which allows all of the above candidates to apply for now but doesn’t confirm whether they can apply, the notice also states, “All candidates who are fulfilling the conditions of orders of Hon’ble Court can now submit their online application form on or before the last date. However, the candidature will be the subject to the outcome of the above Writ Petitions”.

The CBSE had also previously published a similar update on the official CBSE NEET website stating that "Candidates can submit application form for NEET(UG), 2018 in compliance of the orders of Hon'ble High Court, Delhi subject to outcome of the concerned writ petitions".

Candidates from the NIOS Board and those who have completed their schooling privately can now fill the application form of NEET 2018 as the CBSE has introduced the names of these Boards in the options available in the online form. Also, candidates who are born before May 7, 1993 (1988 in the case of reserved categories) can now proceed with filling the entire form, something which they had been barred from doing earlier.

The last date for submitting the NEET application form is March 9, 2018. The final decision on whether all candidates will be allowed to appear for the exam will be taken by the Delhi High Court on April 16, 2018.