Hyderabad, December 01: Giving a major relief to thousands of EAMCET students, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday stayed the undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental course admissions through the common National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in the state till further orders.
Responding to a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) member Dr N Appa Rao and four other students, the court said that the stay would continue till the final disposal of the case.
In his petition, Appa Rao said that students would suffer because of the single medical entrance test designed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for admissions to the MBBS course. The court issued notices to the MCI and the AP government, Union Health Ministry and others on the issue. Earlier, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu High Courts too have stayed the NEET in the respective States.
Following a direction from the Supreme Court, the Medical Council of India has decided to conduct the NEET across the country from 2012. However, with many States, including Andhra Pradesh opposing the move, the implementation of NEET across the country appears difficult.
It may be mentioned that the Centre has acceded to the request of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy that the NEET should be put on hold in the State till 2014. Later, the state government announced that the Intermediate students joining the course from the academic year 2012-13 would have to face the NEET in the State.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health and Medical Education D L Ravindra Reddy hailed the High Court stay on NEET. “Now, the students can prepare for the test without any worries,” he stated.
——Agencies