Supreme Court: NEET Does Not Violate Rights Of Minority Institutions

New Delhi: In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission into medical and dental courses in the country. A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and MR Shah upheld the introduction of a uniform educational standard for the admission process across the country. The bench said that observed that a uniform examination such as NEET for admissions into medical and dental colleges was not a violation of the rights of unaided or aided minority institutions under Article 19 (1) (g) and Article 30, read along with Articles 25, 26 and 29 (1) of the Constitution.

The apex court gave its verdict in a batch of writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the notifications for NEET issued by the Medical Council of India as well as the Dental Council of India. The petitions were originally filed in 2012. The Bench also pointed out that the common entrance exam was introduced to stamp out corruption in the process of admission into medical and dental colleges.

The bench observed that rights under article 19 (1) (g)are not absolute and are subject to reasonable restriction in the interest of the student community, to promote merit, recognition of excellence and curb malpractices.

The Bench added that a uniform entrance test is reasonable and is aimed at curbing "maladies which have crept into medical education, to prevent capitation fee by admitting students lower in merit and to prevent exploitation, profiteering and commercialisation of education."

In a significant observation, the Supreme Court observed that NEET did not violate the rights of minority institutions under Article 29 (1) and 30 of the Constitution. The bench pointed out that the rights of religious or linguistic minorities under Article 30 are not in conflict with other parts of the Constitution.