NEET 2018: Delhi HC tells CBSE not to reject applications from open school candidates

NEW DELHI, April 12: The Delhi High Court has instructed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to accept the NEET 2018 application forms of all candidates who completed their Class 12 from Open Schools.

Hearing a petition filed by 13 MBBS aspirants from Kerala, a two member Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Sankar laid to rest the concerns expressed by the aspirants about being able to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year. The Kerala students had completed their schooling from open schools and were worried that the CBSE may reject their application form.

Pending NEET Hearing

In the directive issued by the Bench on April 11, 2018, the exam conducting body has been told not to reject any applications till the pending court case against the NEET 2018 eligibility criteria is determined in the hearing scheduled for April 16, 2018.

The hearing against the eligibility criteria of NEET will take place before another Delhi High Court Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar, the same judges who had first issued an interim stay order against the NEET eligibility criteria in the hearings which had taken place on February 26 and February 28, 2018.

Reason for the Court Cases

As per amendments made by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to the “Regulation on Graduate Medical Education (Amendment), 2017” on January 22, 2018, and subsequently published in the official NEET 2018 prospectus released by the CBSE on February 8, 2018, all aspirants above the age of 25, those who completed their schooling from NIOS/open schools or privately, those who had a gap year between Classes 11 and 12 and those who had only studied Biology as an additional subject at Class 12 level were all barred from applying for NEET 2018.

Various writ petitions were subsequently filed by aggrieved candidates before the Delhi High Court challenging each of these new rules. The Court passed a similar order in each of the hearings, staying the MCI’s amendments to the NEET eligibility and allowing all aspirants who were affected by these rules to fill the NEET 2018 application form. Justices Khanna and Chander Shekhar had also clarified in their February orders that all the affected aspirants could only fill the form for the time being, until the Court issued its final order on the criteria in its next hearing on April 16.

Now, with the April 11 Delhi High Court order also confirming that the CBSE is not allowed to reject any of the applicants previously rendered ineligible by the NEET 2018 eligibility criteria, the thirteen MBBS aspirants from Kerala and thousands of other aspirants across the country can rest assured that their application forms will be considered until the Court passes its final verdict on April 16.