Delhi govt decides to go with NEET

Kejriwal has also urged President Pranab Mukherjee, who has sought legal advice on the ordinance, not to give his assent

Delhi Government has decided that the uniform medical entrance examination NEET will be applicable in all medical colleges under it, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urging the President not to give his nod to the ordinance exempting the state boards from it.

The move came two days after the Centre decided to bring the ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for this year.

"The Delhi government has decided that admission will happen in all its medical colleges through NEET," a senior official from the Delhi Health Department said.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal has urged President Pranab Mukherjee, who has sought legal advice on the ordinance, not to give his assent.

"I urge hon'ble President not to sign theordinance," Kejriwal tweeted.

Last week, the Delhi Chief Minister had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the ordinance.

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.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia called a high-level meeting of vice-chancellors of medical colleges and top officers of education department to discuss the implementation of NEET .

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain recently came out in support of the Supreme Court order and requested the Centre to implement it at the earliest to bring in reform.

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 July 24.

Nearly 6.5 lakh students have already taken the medical entrance test in the first phase of NEET held on May 1.

Once the ordinance is issued, students of state government boards will not have to sit for NEET on July 24.

They, however, will have to become part of the uniform entrance exam from next academic session, government sources said.

The exam will be applicable for those applying for central government and private medical colleges.