First phase of NEET exam tomorrow, SC declines to hear urgent plea

April 30, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 30: The first phase of the single entrance test NEET for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses across the country will be held tomorrow as the Supreme Court today refused to accord an urgent hearing of a plea seeking modification of its earlier order.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, which is conducting a special hearing on Saturday to deal with pollution in Delhi, did not allow the plea seeking urgent hearing for modification of the April 28 order passed by another bench with regard to the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).

“Nothing will happen in the meantime. Matter had been heard by the bench and it is over for now. Please allow the examination to be conducted,” the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi said.

The observation came when lawyers, representing some students, said that the order on NEET needed to be modified as students who had prepared for the state-level entrance exams will find it difficult to prepare for the NEET in such a short span of time.

The court, for the time being refused to entertain the plea and asked the lawyers concerned to file an application which would be heard by the regular bench, hearing the case.

The Supreme Court had yesterday said that the entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses for the academic year 2016-17 will be held as per the schedule through the two-phased common entrance test NEET on May 1 and July 24.

Centre had yesterday approached the apex court for modification of its April 28 order and had sought that state governments and private colleges be allowed to hold separate entrance examinations for MBBS and BDS courses for 2016-17 saying there was a lot of confusion arising out of it.

The apex court had in its order cleared the decks for the holding of NEET in two phases for the academic year 2016-17 in which around 6.5 lakh candidates are likely to appear.

It had approved the schedule put before it by the Centre, CBSE and the Medical Council of India (MCI) for treating All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) fixed for May 1 as NEET-1.

It had said those who had not applied for AIPMT will be given the opportunity to appear in NEET-II on July 24 and the combined result would be declared on August 17 so that the admission process can be completed by September 30.

The apex court had pronounced the order after rejecting opposition for holding NEET by states, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Association of Karnataka Medical Colleges, besides minority institutions like CMC, Vellore.

The apex court order had implied that all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET and those examinations which have already taken place or slated to be conducted separately stand scrapped.

It had also revived the government’s December 21, 2010 notification for holding a single common entrance test through NEET with a clarification that any challenge on the issue would directly come before it and no high court can interfere.

The court was of the view that since it recalled its April 11 order, there was no hindrance in holding the NEET.

On April 11, the SC had recalled its verdict scrapping a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in all medical colleges, delivered by then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on the day of his retirement.

The apex court’s April 28 order came on a petition filed by NGO Sankalp Charitable Trust, which had said that the Centre, MCI and CBSE were dilly-dallying in implementing the court’s order on implementing the NEET.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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