Bengaluru: Have officials tried to mislead the state government on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) following pressure from the private college and seat blocking mafia?
A meeting of senior officials from medical and higher education department and the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) decided on Saturday decided to move the Supreme Court against the NEET, purportedly to protect the interests of state students, sources said. The meeting decided to appeal before the apex court that if NEET is conducted this year, it will create problems for state students as they will not have enough time to prepare for the examination, they said.
But officials who are in favour of NEET said, “Students who have not applied for AIPMT, will have around two-and-a-half months to prepare for NEET 2. Though everyone is aware of this, still the officials decided to appeal against NEET," said an officer, who wished not to be identified.
Experts like Dr Devi Shetty, Dr N. Prabhudev and others have endorsed NEET, saying it will bring total transparency in the medical admission process. “If NEET is implemented from this year, private medical and dental colleges are set to lose around Rs 200 crore, which they would have collected as donation.
The private college and seat blocking lobby has been applying pressure on the government to move the Supreme Court,” the sources said. After the meeting, Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil said a decision on going appeal against NEET will be taken after consultation with Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah.
