NEET 2020 cut off for BDS admission to be reduced by 10 percentile: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India has lowered the cutoff of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course for the year 2020-21 session. NEET 2020 cutoff for admission to 7,000 BDS vacant seats has been lowered by 10 percentile for each category. As per the revised NEET cutoff, the general category should have secured 40 percentile, SC/ST/OBC should have 30 percentile, while for general-PwD aspirants it is 35 percentile. The revised NEET cutoff scores for BDS will be announced soon by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Admission to MBBS/BDS/AYUSH/Veterinary courses in the country is granted through a single national level entrance test - NEET UG. A total of 26, 949 BDS seats are filled through NTA NEET. The cutoff was announced along with the result on October 16, 2020.

NEET cutoff was 50th percentile for Unreserved (UR), 45th percentile for UR-PH, and 40th percentile for SC/ST/OBC-PH categories. Earlier, the NEET cutoff for admission to vacant AYUSH seats was also lowered by 10 percentile by the Ministry of AYUSH.

SC directs to lower the NEET BDS cutoff 2020

The decision by the SC comes in response to the petition filed by Harshit Aggarwal Vs Union of India. In its judgement, the SC bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Krishna Murari revised the NEET BDS cut off by 10 percentile. The SC judgment stated that by lowering the NEET cutoff for BDS the standard of education will not be compromised. The judgment read,

“We direct that the vacant seats in the first year BDS course for the year 2020-2021 shall be filled up from the candidates who have participated in the NEET (UG) courses for the year 2020-2021 after lowering the percentile mark by 10 percentile.”

The court further stated the category-wise revised NEET BDS 2020 cutoff.

“The candidates belonging to the general category who have secured 40 percentile shall be eligible to be considered for admission in the first year BDS course for the year 2020-2021. Likewise, students belonging to the SC/ST/OBC categories shall be qualified if they have secured 30 percentile. In so far as general candidates with bench-mark disabilities specified under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, they would be eligible if they have secured 35 percentile.”

To read the complete SC judgment on NEET BDS cutoff 2020 - Click here

Revised NEET BDS cutoff 2020

Check the table below to know the revised cutoff of NEET for BDS admission.

Lowered NEET cutoff for BDS admission 2020-21

Last date for BDS admission through NEET

The court directed the authorities to conclude the BDS admission for 2020-2021 session based on revised NEET cutoff latest by February 18, 2021.

Further, the SC also recommended the private dental colleges in the country to lower their academic fee to encourage more students for admission. The SC agreed with the Centre that the high fee charged by private dental colleges contributes to BDS seats not getting filled up. Thus, the SC recommended that the management of private colleges should consider revising their fee. As per the SC judgement:

“Only 265 out of 7,000 seats are vacant in government colleges. All the other unfilled seats are in private Dental colleges. The Managements of private Dental Colleges shall consider reducing the fee charged by them to encourage students to join the Colleges.”

Write to us at news@careers360.com