Bombay High Court Reserves its Order on NEET & Universities

The Bombay High Court reserved its order in a matter where universities of Maharashtra are seeking permission to carry out their separate counselling sessions before medical admissions — instead of the one which will be under the government-approved National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) —to BDS and MBBS courses.

Three of the eight deemed universities of Maharashtra that offer MBBS and BDS courses have approached the High Court of the state, challenging a state government resolution. The state government resolution makes it mandatory for these institutes to admit students to the above courses only on the basis of the NEET merit list.

Also Read: Centre to Setup 10-20 more Accreditation Agencies: Prakash Javadekar

These institutes are-

• Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Karad
• Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Ahmednagar
• DY Patil College, Kolhapur
• DY Patil College, Pune

Once students appear for the common entrance test, a merit list is announced and students who make it to the list are required to appear for a common counselling session under which college seats are offered to them.

Although the universities have accepted NEET, they want the right to conduct their own counselling sessions. Now they have approached the HC for the same.

Also Read: UGC Asks Distance Education Universities to Display All Necessary Info on Website

There are 1,675 medical seats in deemed institutes of Maharashtra. Around 20,000 students have registered for the centralised admission process of NEET for admissions into these deemed institutes.

As per the rules of the deemed universities, the candidates who make it to the NEET entrance test merit list have to apply individually to each university following which they may or may not be allotted a seat.

The universities claimed they are governed by the statutory powers of the UGC and the MCI, and the state does not have overriding jurisdiction over them.