SC to Centre: No NEET 2020 in Gulf countries, allow students to come via Vande Bharat flights

The Supreme Court Monday declined to pass a direction to Centre to hold National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate (UG) 2020 at examination centres in Gulf countries but also asked the government to allow students to come via "Vande Bharat Mission" flights to appear for the exam.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed against the Kerala High court June 30 order which dismissed the plea for setting up overseas examination centres or postponement of the exams until pandemic situation is under control.

"If the Joint Entrance Exam can be held online then you should consider NEET also to be held in an online form from next year," the court said.

The bench headed by Justice Nageswara Rao and he said," I don’t know what happens there, but here in India, those who write NEET, don’t go for engineering. Because the streams in school are different," according to Live Law.

The decision comes in the backdrop of the novel coronavirus pandemic and amid the requests for postponement in conducting NEET, JEE and other competitive examinations during the virus outbreak.

As per the public notices issued by NTA, the NEET UG 2020 exam is scheduled for September 13.

Earlier, the Medical Council of India also submitted an affidavit saying the matter of overseas examination centres for NEET doesn't deserve the indulgence of the top court in view of the fact that the Indian government has permitted travel to and from other countries, through



Vande Bharat Mission.

"In order to fairly conduct an examination like NEET, which has to be a uniform examination, it is imperative that the examination is conducted at the same time everywhere, which shall not be possible, if the examination is conducted in outside countries due to various reasons including different time zones, logistical issues, the secrecy of test papers being a booklet-based examination, etc," the plea said.

It said that if NEET is not conducted at the same time everywhere, then the "sanctity of the said examination will be lost", as there will be a possibility of leakage of questions.

The plea, filed by parents of nearly 4,000 NEET (undergraduate) candidates, sought to alternatively postpone the examination until the COVID-19 pandemic normalises.

The parents of these candidates, who reside in Doha, Qatar, Oman, and UAE, had approached the apex court challenging the Kerala High Court June 30 order which had dismissed their plea.

The council while seeking dismissal of the plea said that the Government of India, under the Vande Bharat Mission, permitted Indian citizens, including overseas citizens of India, to come to India by special flights, .

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since 16 March when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. A nationwide lockdown was imposed on 25 March to contain the virus spread.