NEET- PG 2022 Candidates Move Supreme Court Seeking Extension Of Internship Deadline Beyond July 31

Doctors in the alternative have also sought relief to allow the candidates who fail to complete the internship till July 31 but are eligible as per the terms of the Information Bulletin to apply for the exam.

Relief for considering exclusion of the period when the candidate served in covid duty from the one-year internship period, subject to the candidate fulfilling other requirements regarding eligibility for NEET-PG 2022 has also been sought.

It has been argued in the petition that the revised deadline of 31.07.2022 still leaves thousands of candidates particularly from the state of Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala (among other states) as ineligible to apply for NEET-PG 2022-23 since they won't be able to conclude their internship within the stipulated time.

"The same will not only unjustly deprive the candidates from applying for NEET-PG 2022-23 exam but will also lead to wastage of entire year," the petition states.

The doctors have further contended that while they had joined for covid duties, neither the National Board of Examination, nor the colleges informed them that serving as covid warriors would delay their commencement of internship and could also affect the registration for NEET-PG 2022-23.

In this regard they have averred that for several candidates internship which had to commence from March- April 2021 got postponed to September-October 2021.

"When the candidates made informal enquiries from the colleges regarding the internship extension date for next year and whether the same will affect the registration for NEET-PG 2022, they were given an oral assurance by the colleges that the same will not clash with registration requirement for NEET-PG 2022-23.

"However, the candidates were shocked to note that they will not be able to register for NEET-PG 2022-23 with the current deadline of 31.07.2022 as the internship deadline," the plea states.

The petitioners are represented by Dubey Law Associates and the petition has been filed by Advocate Charu Mathur.

The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi will consider the matter tomorrow.

It may be noted that the bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud on Friday had dismissed a plea by NEET MDS 2022 aspirants seeking issuance of fresh notification for extending the period of compulsory internship for NEET MDS.

Case Title: Shikhar & Another v National Board of Examination| Writ Petition (Civil) 208/2022