Supreme Court allows aspirants above 25 years to appear for NEET 2019

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued an order stating that students aged 25 years or above can appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in 2019.

The apex court also directed the National Testing Agency to extend the November 30 deadline for submitting NEET forms by one week for prospective candidates.

However, the top court bench, headed by Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, stated that admission to the courses will be based on the final verdict of the top court, which is presently hearing petitions challenging the upper age limit for taking the test fixed at 25 years for general category students.

This decision from the top court came after a petition was dismissed by the Delhi High Court challenging the decision to fix the upper age limit 25 years and 30 years for general and reserved categories, respectively, for undergraduate medical courses such as MBBS and BDS.

Moreover, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare also issued a notification stating that the Veterinary Council of India will use NEET (UG) 2019 qualified merit list for admission of students to B.V. Sc, and A.H. degree courses during the academic year 2019-20 for filling up for seats in recognised Veterinary Colleges (except Jammu and Kashmir) under 15 per cent all India quota.

"All those students desirous to take admission to BV Sc and AH Degree course under 15 per cent seats on All India Basis are hereby advised to appear in NEET (UG) 2019 to be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) on 5th May, 2019," the notice read.

In January, the Supreme Court bench had accepted the petition and agreed to examine the validity of an amendment to the Medical Council of India (MCI) Regulations on Graduate Medical Education of 1997 fixing the age limit.