NEET compulsory for admission to AYUSH courses: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has recently ruled that the All India National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will now apply for all undergraduate courses in AYUSH. These include courses in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.

The Ministry of Ayush had instructed all the concerned universities to admit students in undergraduate courses of Ayush only on the basis of NEET for the 2018-19 academic year. They were to follow the existing rules and reservation policies of the respective state governments.

The SC was considering the validity of a notification issued by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (Minimum Standards of Education Indian Medicine) Regulations 1986, amended in 2018.

The 2018 regulation says that there shall be uniform entrance examinations for all admission to undergraduate courses in medicine – BAMS, BUMS, BSMS and BHMS.

The notification was challenged by AYUSH colleges before the Punjab and Haryana High Court and admission was granted to the students in the institutes based on the interim orders of the High Court.

The HC had dismissed the challenges in December 2019.

The bench comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Deepak Gupta observed that minimum standard cannot be lowered even for AYUSH courses.

There is a requirement of a minimum percentile for admission to undergraduate courses.

“We agree. Doctors who are qualified in Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathy streams also treat patients and the lack of minimum standards of education would result in half-baked doctors being turned out of professional colleges. Non-availability of eligible candidates for admission to AYUSH Under Graduate courses cannot be a reason to lower the standards prescribed by the Central Council for admission,” the judgment says.