HC upholds CBSE's upper age limit of 25 years for NEET

The Delhi High Court today dismissed pleas challenging the CBSE's notification laying down the upper age limit of 25 and 30 years for general and reserved categories respectively to apply for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG, a pre-qualification for pursuing MBBS course.

The high court, however, struck down a clause in the notification which bars students from open schools or those who have studied privately from appearing in the test.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar said that the proviso to the clause of the CBSE's January 22 notification prescribing upper age limit of 25 years in case of general category candidates and 30 years in case of reserved category candidates is "legal and valid".

"To this extent, the writ petitions challenging vires of proviso to clause 4 of the Regulations are dismissed," the bench said.

The court also said that the proviso to a clause of the regulations disqualifying recognised open school board candidates is "struck down and declared unconstitutional".

"Students/candidates, who have done class 12 from NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) or recognised open school state boards, would not be treated as per se disqualified for selection and appearance in NEET examination.

"Their NEET results, when otherwise eligible, would be declared with other candidates," the bench said in its 81-page judgement.