Rajasthan High Court asks NTA to admit Pakistani immigrant provisionally to medical college

JODHPUR: The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday asked the National Testing Agency to allot a seat in an appropriate medical college to a Pakistani immigrant who has cleared NEET but was denied admission for the want of a Long Term Visa from the country of his origin.

Justice Dinesh Mehta of the Jodhpur bench of the high court asked NTA, the country’s premier body mandated to hold competitive examinations for admissions to various higher educational institutions including those of engineering and medical, on a plea by Pakistani immigrant Sandeep Kumar. Kumar had moved the high court saying that he was denied a seat in a medical college despite securing 80 per cent marks in the National Eligibilities-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET) because his LTV has expired and was awaiting renewal by Pakistan for long.

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While asking the NTA to admit Kumar to a medical college, the bench ruled that the validity of his admission will depend on the outcome of his petition. Providing relief to the petitioner, Justice Mehta said, “The petitioner appeared in the NEET (UG) examination and has secured 80 per cent marks.” “It is hereby ordered that the competent authority of the NEET shall allot an appropriate college to the petitioner, of course, in accordance with his merit, ignoring that he is not having Long Term Visa, the bench said.

The order further said the petitioner shall be permitted to pursue his course which shall be subject to the final outcome of his writ petition. Kumar had submitted that he was a Pakistani national and had come to India with his parent and siblings in 2011 through a valid passport under LTV. He submitted to the court that his visa had expired in October 2017 and a request to extend his visa has been pending with the authorities since then.

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During the previous hearing last August, Kumar had expressed his desire before the court to appear in the NEET exam but was apprehensive that his application for writing it may be rejected for the want of the LTV. The court had then asked the NTA director and the convener, the Rajasthan NEET-UG Admission Board, Jaipur, to accept his examination form. In its hearing on Tuesday, the court also gave Additional Solicitor General Mukesh Rajpurohit four weeks to submit his reply.