NEET ordinance: Congress in tune with President's decision to seek legal advice

New Delhi: The Congress Party on Sunday welcomed President Pranab Mukherjee's decision to seek legal advice on the ordinance to keep state boards out of ambit of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), saying there are some pertinent issues with regard to the same.

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said one should of course respect everything that the President does.

"I think in this case there are some pertinent issues with regard to the ordinance. I think it is good that the President has sought legal advice," he added.

Reports suggest that President Mukherjee is seeking clarification on the ordinance and is consulting in house legal experts on certain questions.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has vehemently opposed the ordinance on NEET as a result of which the state government has decided the examination will be applied in all medical colleges in the national capital.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told ANI that a high-level meeting will be called today to discuss the implementation of NEET in medical colleges in the national capital.

"The Delhi Government is completely opposed to the sale of seats which is why a meeting has been called in which senior officers from the education department will be present and we will discuss on how NEET will be applied in Delhi medical colleges," Sisodia said.

Asserting that the "sale" of medical seats had become a major issue, he added that an 'educational mafia' is spreading its roots across the country in all technical colleges, including engineering and medical.

"In medical colleges if seats are sold through making large donations then what kind of doctors will those students become? The nation is of the same mind that medical seats must not be sold to anyone whatsoever and that there should be free and fair selection on merit," Sisodia said.

The ordinance, cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday, is aimed at partially overturning a

Supreme Court verdict which said all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET.

More than 15 states were opposed to NEET and had raised issues like different syllabus and languages during the recent state health ministers' meeting.

The next phase of the exam is scheduled for July24. Nearly 6.5 lakh students have already taken the medical entrance test in the first phase of NEET held on May 1.

Once the ordinance is issued, the students of state government boards will not have to sit for NEET on July 24.