AYUSH NEET: Sued in Court to Grant Admission in NEET’s AYUSH Course, Court Requests Government Response
AYUSH NEET Admission: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked for a response from the central government to the petition of some AYUSH candidates against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The petition challenges the admission process through NEET for Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani, Siddha and Sowa Rigpa courses. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Judge Jyoti Singh has sent notices to the Centre, the National Research Bureau and other parties at the request of six candidates for their response. The Chief Justice also said he would simultaneously hear a petition filed by allopathic physicians challenging the permission of AYUSH practitioners to perform certain surgeries. The next hearing in this case will take place on March 30.
The bench told the petitioners’ counsel: “On the one hand you say you are competitive, but when asked to appear in NEET you say we are not competitive.” The bank further said: “Ayush doctors on the one hand want to do the operation, on the other hand they say we are different, see the double attitude, we will hear both cases together.
Thereafter, counsel for the applicants informed the court that the applicants were not against NEET. State attorney Monika Arora was also present in court, who was asked by the court for details of the petition from allopathic doctors. The petitioners have argued that it is contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution to ask them to sit the NEET exam for admission to the AYUSH courses of medical institutions covered by the Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 and the National Commission for Homeopathy Act, 2020. The petition said, “NEET was established under the NMC Act and therefore only applies to those medical institutions that grant degrees, diplomas or licenses in modern scientific medicine.” These institutions are different from those which grant degrees, diplomas or licenses in Ayurveda, Siddha or Homeopathy.’
According to the petition, while an NEET general exam for MBBS-BDS and AYUSH courses was announced, the important fact that both courses are taught in different areas and the fundamental difference in the structure of the two courses was ignored. The petition alleged that the eligibility criteria required for admission to AYUSH courses were not taken into account in the design of the NEET.
Trademark manipulation application rejected
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by a group of six students alleging that their NEET-UG answer sheets had been tampered with by the National Examination Board. The bank informed the National Examination Board’s statement that after the students filed complaints, they were called to its office and shown their original answer sheets and accepted that they were their answer sheets.
