The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition filed by doctors seeking directions to allow change of exam centre option and to postpone the conduct of NEET PG 2021 till National Board of Examination allows such option.
A bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi dismissed the petition after observing that the COVID situation is improving in the country and there are few travel restrictions in force.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the petitioners, sought to persuade the bench by pointing out that COVID cases are continuing high in Kerala and are rising in other parts of the country.
"Ms Arora, the situation is different now. There are no restrictions in travelling. Now the flight from Delhi to Kochi is also booked", Justice Lalit, the presiding judge said. The judge also pointed out that the vaccinations have increased and the severity of cases are less.
Last week, the bench had
allowed the plea of exam change centre for two NEET PG candidates, who were at an advanced stage of pregnancy.
"We had only allowed the petitioners who were in their advanced stage of pregnancy but not we cannot give these petitioners the option. We made exception and granted relief to two women who were carrying and were in seventh and eighth month of their pregnancy, as it was impossible for them to travel, but this cannot be extended to everyone", Justice Lalit said.
"Why is there a discrepancy?The students who qualified in July are allowed to change but the students who qualified in March were not allowed to.We will expose young doctors to COVID. We have young students who are exposed in Covid duties. We are asking them to travel. See the absurdity of the notification", Arora urged.
However, the bench said that it cannot entertain the petition.
"We are sorry. We can't entertain. Dismissed", Justice Lalit said. The judge also observed during the hearing that even the Supreme Court Bar Association was now seeking for restoration of complete physical hearing in the Supreme Court.
"People have been vaccinated. The severity is less now as compared to what the situation was in March and April. There are no restrictions either. How can we allow it? In Fact the SCBA wants us to open doors for the Supreme Court. The flights are also operating from Delhi to Kerala also fully", Justice Lalit observed orally during the hearing.
The petitions sought a relief to permit the candidates who were posted in CoVID duties as in April 18, 2021 to choose their centre on the basis of their current location and not previous posting. Doctors who are currently located in Kerala to contain the spread of virus have also sought relief to be allocated centre in the State of Kerala.
Further the doctors by way of the writ have also prayed to direct the NBE to allocate centres to the candidates in the same state and allow the edit window for change in centre with immediate effect.
The writ petition was filed through Advocate on Record Charu Mathur.
Case Title: ROHAN K RAJEEV vs. NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATION
Click Here To Read/ Download Order
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