Our Correspondent
President Pranab Mukherjee has sought legal advice on the ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of uniform medical entrance examination, NEET, for this year.
According to official sources, the President is seeking clarification on the ordinance and is consulting in house legal experts on certain questions.
The ordinance, cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday, is aimed at partially overturning a Supreme Court verdict which said all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET.
Clarifying that the exemption is only for the state government seats, government sources had said that state seats which are earmarked in the private medical colleges have also been exempted.
More than 15 states were opposed to NEET and had raised issues like different syllabus and languages during the recent state health ministers’ meeting.
The next phase of the exam is scheduled for 24th of July. Nearly 6.5 lakh students have already taken the medical entrance test in the first phase of NEET held on 1st of May. Once the ordinance is issued, students of state government boards will not have to sit for NEET on 24th July.
