NEET 2018: NIOS candidates allowed but upper age limit to stay, rules Delhi HC

NEW DELHI, May 12: The Delhi High Court has pronounced its judgement on the NEET 2018 eligiblity criteria on May 11, allowing all NIOS candidates to retain their eligibility but barring candidates above the upper age limit. As per the Court, the NEET eligibility clause barring candidates above the upper age limit is ‘legal and valid’, but the one barring open school candidates has been struck down for being ‘unconstitutional’.

Judgement blow to upper age candidates

The judgment, passed by a two member Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar, comes as a blow to scores of upper age limit candidates who had been hopeful of their chances of securing admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other assorted medical courses through NEET 2018.

As per Dr. Amit Gupta, the education activist at the forefront of the legal battle against the NEET 2018 eligibility criteria, the option to approach the Supreme Court is currently being considered. As per the initial eligibility criteria of NEET 2018, introduced on the basis of directives issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) in January 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 or after Class 12 level, were barred from appearing for NEET 2018,

“NEET Eligibility Case in Delhi High Court – NIOS non eligibility is Struck Down (Candidates are Eligible this year & subsequent years); Additional Biology: Concessions allowed by MCI will be Upheld; Upper Age Limit: Court upheld the eligibility criteria (will approach SC)”, tweeted Dr. Gupta immediately after the judgement was pronounced.

Case updates

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018 was held on Sunday, May 6. As per the earlier interim order passed by the same Bench on April 26, 2018, all candidates who were affected by the newly introduced NEET eligibility criteria were eligible to appear for the exam. Earlier on February 28, the Court had also directed the CBSE to allow all candidates to apply for the exam. While passing its subsequent order in April however, the Court had reserved its judgement while passing its interim order on allowing all candidates to appear.

As per the latest 81 page judgement of the Delhi High Court issued on May 11, candidates from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) Board and other recognized open schools will not “be treated as per se disqualified for selection and appearance in NEET examination. Their NEET results, when otherwise eligible, would be declared with other candidates”. The result of NEET 2018 is expected to be declared by the CBSE on or before June 5, 2018, and the judgement of the High Court finally paves the way for the affected open school students to seek admissions through NEET.

However, the candidates battling the NEET 2018 eligibility criteria on upper age limit seem to have lost the battle, what with the Court upholding the MCI decision to keep an upper age limit of 25 years for Unreserved candidates and 30 years for Reserved Category candidates as “legal and valid”.

Reasons given by the Delhi HC

Ascribing reasons to its decision to let upper age limit candidates remain barred from seeking admissions through NEET 2018, the Delhi High Court said, “...it would ensure that the candidates do not become victims of unhealthy competition, resulting in a situation where it becomes impossible for the young candidates to secure admission in the medical college”. Additionally, it added, “It is submitted that if there is no upper age limit fixed, then the candidates aspiring to become doctors will continue to appear in the examination just in hope of getting selected even though they have been unsuccessful in the entrance examination on several occasions. This would result in unnecessary wastage of the valuable time, energy and hard work put in by the candidate and such candidate who failed to qualify even after repeated opportunities will also be left with no other alternative option to pursue any other profession...”.

Describing the logic behind its decision, the Court said, “...no upper age limit was fixed for appearing in the NEET examination and it was noticed that large number of candidates kept on appearing year after year in the hope of getting a seat or securing an upgrade to a reputed medical college”. As per the rationale applied by the Court, those who were “young and meritorious” would therefore face “a tough and rather unfair competition” from the candidates who were repeating their attempt for the exam “on account of preparation”.

While putting forward its understanding that many foreign countries do not impose an upper age limit on medical admissions, the Court said that it is important to keep an upper age limit in the context of admissions through NEET in India since there were “a limited number of seats and large number of aspirants” making it “difficult to hold that the upper age limit is not a reasonable restriction, which has been imposed in the interest of general public”.

At the same time, the two member Bench of the Delhi High Court also expressed its hope that “...in near future, this situation would change, and age and subject constraint and restriction would not be required and necessary”.

Check the detailed verdict of the Delhi High Court on the upper age limit for NEET below -

Supreme Court the last resort

The introduction of an upper age limit clause in NEET had proven to be a massive source of controvery last year as well, but was subsequently decided by the Supreme Court in the favour of students. While Dr. Amit Gupta has indicated that the next step would be take up the case in the Supreme Court so that the candidates declared ineligible by the Delhi High Court are atleast allowed to apply for admission through NEET 2018, he has also clarified that the same exercise would require “large amounts of manpower and legal expenditure”. In a call to arms on his Facebook page, he has asked the upper age limit candidates barred by the judgement as to “How many of you are going to come forward?”.

While it remains to be seen if the decision around the Delhi High Court judgement is challenged in the Supreme Court and is ultimately decided in the favour of students similar to last year, what is for sure is that the latest order from Justices Khanna and Chander Shekhar has come as a heavy blow for candidates above the upper age limit, leaving as it does numerous candidates apprehensive about their prospects of applying for admissions on the basis of their NEET 2018 scores despite appearing for the exam.