Govt, MCI should seek review of verdict on NEET: AAP

Aam Aadmi Party today urged the government and Medical Council of India to seek a review of the Supreme Court's decision on the common National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and said if needed, government must bring an Act for this purpose.
Terming the decision as "unfortunate", AAP said the judgement was retrograde and against public interest.
"AAP hopes that the government and the MCI will seek a review of the judgement and the Supreme Court will review it immediately, failing which the government must bring an Act for this purpose," the party said in a statement.
The Supreme Court had yesterday scrapped holding of the single common entrance test (NEET) for admission to MBBS, BDS and post-graduate courses in all medical colleges.

The apex court had held that the medical council has no authority to force private medical colleges to admit students on the basis of NEET, since this was beyond the MCI's power of regulating standards of medical education.
The party pointed out that Justice Dave had disagreed with the verdict saying it was not only permissible for MCI to regulate the entry of students in medical courses through a proper entrance exam, it was also desirable to do so.

AAP said Justice Dave had opined that this would prevent medical colleges from offering seats to undeserving students on the basis of bribes and capitation fees and would also spare students the agony of appearing in separate exams.

It said the common entrance examination was introduced by the MCI at the instance of the Supreme Court itself in 2010.
"Medical seats must not be allowed to be bought and students must not be forced to take separate exams for each medical college," the party led by Arvind Kejriwal said.
The judgement was delivered by the outgoing Chief Justice Altamas Kabir hours before his retirement.
"This case also underlines the urgent need for putting in place an independent Judicial Conduct Commission for the accountability of the judiciary," the statement said.