The recent Supreme Court verdict against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has come as a big relief to the state of Andhra Pradesh, as the state government has been requesting the MCI since long to give more time to it so that the students could get ample time to switch over to the new central syllabus meant for NEET.

Moreover, the state government had also reservations against the NEET because most of the students in the rural areas of the state are having Telugu medium backgrounds and it became difficult for them to take the NEET test which is being held only in English language.

In its recent judgment, the Supreme Court had disapproved NEET and has ruled against Medical Council of India (MCI) saying that it has no power to force such a test against the states.

According to the verdict by a three-judge bench (2:1 verdict), the SC has held that the MCI notification was in violation of the constitution. It, however added that the verdict wouldn’t affect admission which had already taken place in some states. The majority verdict by chief justice Altamas Kabir and justice Vikranmjit Sen stated that MCI was not empowered to prescribe all India medical entrance test and could only frame guidelines for the purpose and added that the MCI notification was in violation of articles 19,25,26,29 and 30 of the constitution. The verdict also read that the common entrance test for admission in medical colleges violates the rights of the state and private institutions.

The main aim of the NEET test is to have one common entrance test nationally for the admission of MBBS, BDS and post-graduate courses in all medical colleges across the country.

As many states in the country are conducting different entrance tests like Eamcet, AU AIMEE, JCECE, CG PMT, JIPMER etc., the MCI had decided to conduct only one common entrance test in place of all these tests so that students will not only be relieved from the burden of writing different tests again and again, but will also be able to access vacant medical seats in various medical colleges across the country.

As per the MCI notification, NEET was first announced in December 2012 and the Medical council of India had directed all the state governments to modify their syllabus accordingly and take part in NEET from the year 2013. For this, many state governments including Andhra Pradesh have revisited as they felt that a major share of the state’s medical seats will have to be given to candidates from other states. At the same time the students from Andhra Pradesh will also get 20 per cent medical seats from other states across India. But the disadvantage for Andhra Pradesh is that majority of the students are from rural areas and are having Telugu medium background and it will become tough for them to compete equally with other candidates from other states.

“On the whole the final verdict of SC on NEET has given a big relief for students in Andhra Pradesh and for the current academic year, the MBBS, BDS admissions will be conducted based on ‘Eamcet’ entrance test held by state government,” said a source in Medical education department in the state.