The Jammu and Kashmir government Monday filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking exemption of the state’s aspirants from National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses.State’s Commissioner Secretary Law Muhammad Ashraf Mir told KNS that the Supreme Court has accepted the state’s application which is listed for hearing tomorrow (Tuesday). “We are seeking exemption from National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses for the aspirants from our state,” Mir told KNS over phone from New Delhi.He said that the senior advocates including former Attorney General of India Gopal Subramanium and Vishwanathan, senior Advocate and former Assistant Solicitor General appeared for the State apart from Sunil Fernandez.“We will plead our case and hope that the apex court will exempt the state from the entrance tests for medical courses,” he said.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary and Rural Development Abdul Haq Khan told KNS that the state government will legally contest the case in Supreme Court.“We have sent a team of officials, including Commissioner Secretary Law, BOPEE chairman to New Delhi to legally fight the case in Supreme Court,’’ Haq told KNS, adding that the state will invoke Articles 370 and 35 (A) to contest the application of NEET for medical courses.NEET has put the state government in a fix and confused aspirants for medical courses. The test will be held after the ruling of the Supreme Court to hold a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses across the country.For the state, Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) was conducting entrance tests for all the medical courses for the students, and the tests were usually held in the mid-summer months.The minister hit out at the opposition parties, saying that the PDP “does not need character certificate from those parties. We know well how to fight the case legally”.
Meanwhile, the apex court will hear tomorrow (Tuesday) a batch of applications seeking that NEET for admissions to undergraduate medical courses may not be thrust on the states and they may be allowed to conduct their own entrance examinations.A Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice P.S. Thakur said today that the hearing by the special bench headed by Justice Anil R. Dave will take place on Tuesday at 2 p.m. after a battery of senior lawyers, including Gopal Subramaniam appearing for Jammu and Kashmir, and K. K. Venugopal appearing for Association of Private Medical Colleges of Karnataka mentioned the matter.Various states, including the association of private medical colleges are aggrieved by the top court’s Friday order reiterating that admission to undergraduate medical courses will be only through National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) to be conducted by the Central Board of School Education (CBSE). (KNS)