NEW DELHI: On a day when the results of NEET were declared, the Supreme Court on Monday sought a reply from the Centre on a plea challenging the Medical Council of India (MCI) norm laying down the upper age limit of 25 years for general category aspirants to apply for NEET examination for MBBS and BDS courses.
A bench comprising Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan issued notices to the Centre, the CBSE and the Kerala government on an appeal against a Delhi High Court judgment filed by a group of 170 medical aspirants and posted the matter for hearing on July 10.
The group approached the apex court challenging the MCI notification laying down the upper age limit of 25 years and 30 years for general and reserved categories, respectively, to apply for NEET for MBBS and BDS courses.
The counsel appearing for the students told the SC the 25-year limit was completely arbitrary.
The HC had struck down a clause in the MCI notification which barred students from open schools or those who have studied privately from appearing in the test.
As per the January 22 notification, candidates who have studied in open school, students who have had biology or biotechnology as an additional subject , those who have taken more than two years to complete their 11th and 12th classes and students who have studied privately were not eligible to apply.
The HC, in its interim order on February 28, had made it clear that while the candidates will be allowed to submit their applications for the entrance test, it does not mean they can sit for the examination which was held on May 6.