NEET SS 2021: Supreme Court Agrees To Consider Plea By MD/MS Doctors Seeking Reduction Of Eligibility Cut Off

The petition which also sought for was mentioned in the morning by Advocate Karanjot Singh Mainee before the bench headed by CJI NV Ramana wherein CJI asked the counsel to mention the same before the bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud.

While the counsel post lunch mentioned the petition before the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and PS Narasimha, Justice DY Chandrachud while referring to a plea seeking similar relief which was dismissed by the court said, "We dismissed a petition recently".

"That was by University and this is by students," counsel replied.

"There were students also. We have to follow the same course we cant help you. We'll hear it day after," the bench said.

Counsel at this juncture urged the bench to consider the same tomorrow since Mop Up round was going on.

It was argued in the petition that the Union had consistently reduced the eligibility criteria in the past to ensure that large number of seats don't go waste, yet despite the chequered circumstances owning to the second wave of the Pandemic, extension of mandatory Covid duty for 3 months, change in exam pattern, reversal to the old pattern, scheduling and rescheduling of the NEET SS 21 exam, the Petitioners had a legitimate expectation that the benefits given to their seniors would also be extended to them.

"Concessions/reduction for the cut-off percentile, would not only benefit the Petitioners herein, who would not waste an entire year in the anticipation of appearing in NEET SS 22, but would also lead to a robust and fully equipped army of doctors, thereby benefiting the society at large," the petition further stated.

MD/MS doctors had further contended that due to COVID and other circumstances, the session was already running late and the next NEET exam was expected to take place soon and therefore there was high probability that many seats would remain vacant leading to national wastage.

Against this backdrop along with seeking reduction of the eligibility cut-off in NEET SS 21 from 50th percentile to the least possible percentile in line with similar reductions in the previous 3 years, doctors had also sought relief for permitting them to sit for the mop-up/stray vacancy counseling rounds.

The petition was drawn by Advocate Karanjot Singh Mainee and filed through AOR Satya Mitra.

Case Title: Dr. Vignesh Parivallal And Ors. Versus Union Of India & Others| Diary Number 15525/2022

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