NEW DELHI: In a huge relief to thousands of students aspiring to become doctors, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that even candidates above 25 years of age can write the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) next year. Their eligibility, however, will depend on the court’s final ruling on the validity of the upper age limit.
A bench of Justices S A Bobde, L Nageswara Rao and R Subhash Reddy delivered the interim order and directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) — which was formed to conduct entrance and competitive exams, and relieve bodies like the CBSE of these duties — to extend the deadline for submitting filled-up NEET forms by a week.
In 2017 too, the court scrapped the upper age limit, but in 2018, it dismissed a petition to relax the age cap.
The NEET UG 2019 notification, released on November 1, specified that 25 years was the upper age limit for candidates, meaning that those who cross 25 years of age by May 5, 2019 would not be eligible to appear for the exam. However, now, even older candidates can write the exam, and their eligibility will be decided in the court’s final ruling in the case.
“This decision is of great significance because when there is no retirement age for doctors, why should there be an upper age cap for admission into medical colleges?” said Amit Gupta, a teacher and activist who led the team of students who approached the apex court. “When other top medical institutions such as AIIMS and JIPMER do not have such a criterion, why should older students be discriminated in NEET?” Gupta asked.