New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to entertain requests from a batch of students seeking cancellation of Neet on May 1 and permitted the exam to go on as scheduled.
On Friday, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi had in a U-turn told the bench of Justice Dave that holding the test on May 1 would cause serious difficulties for students particularly in the south as the test was being conducted only in English and Hindi and not in regional languages.
Sources told this newspaper that the change of stand by the A-G was a sequel to various requests received from the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala seeking the Centre’s intervention to stop the test.
A senior NDA minister had told the A-G that since Assembly elections are to be held in these two states on May 16, any order thrusting the test on the students will affect the chances of the BJP.
The A-G argued that it would lead to serious confusion among lakhs of students aspiring to enter the medical profession. The A-G’s submission had the support of the bench initially.
Justice Dave responded by saying, “Yes, we understand it involves the careers of next generation of doctors. We can allow the exam of the states to go on.”
Though it was expected that the court will modify its order in the evening, Justice Dave orally told counsel that the bench will meet again on May 3 and, in the meanwhile, the Neet-1 or any state exam can go on. It remains to be seen whether the Consti-tution bench modifies the order on May 3.
