MBBS, BDS entrance tests through NEET as per schedule, says SC

April 29, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 29: The Supreme Court today 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 single common entrance test National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) on May 1 and July 24.

The apex court, which in the morning indicated that it will give an urgent hearing for modification of yesterday's order, later said it was not going to have a bench for hearing it today.

The court said it will go into the issue of modification in due course after the parties file their applications in this regard.

Justice A R Dave, before whom the matter was mentioned by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said, "We are not having the bench. Let the exam go on. Let them file the applications."

When Justice Dave said that the matter would not be heard today, he was sitting in a different bench.

Earlier in the day, the Centre had approached the apex Court seeking modification of its yesterday's order to allow state governments and private colleges to hold separate entrance examinations for MBBS and BDS courses for the academic year 2016-17.

The bench had then indicated of hearing the matter later in the day by the same bench which had passed the order yesterday.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had suggested that the order passed by the apex court yesterday allowed holding of a two-phased single common entrance test for MBBS and BDS courses through NEET on May 1 and July 24 but there appear to be some genuine difficulties and there was a need for some change in the order.

He suggested that the first phase of NEET scheduled for May 1 be scrapped and all the students be allowed to take the exams on July 24.

Rohatgi said there was a need to modify yesterday's order as there was a lot of confusion arising out of it.

The apex court had yesterday 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.

A bench comprising Justices A R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and A K Goel had pronounced the order yesterday after rejecting the opposition for holding NEET by the states, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Association of Karnataka Medical Colleges, besides minority institutions like CMC, Vellore which had contended that NEET cannot be imposed on them.

The order 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 Decemeber 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 apex court had recalled its judgement scrapping a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS, BDS and PG courses in all medical colleges, delivered by then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on the day of his retirement.

The petition on which the court passed the order yesterday was filed by NGO Sankalp Charitable Trust.

In its petition, the NGO had said that the Centre, MCI and CBSE were dilly-dallying in implementing the court's order on implementing the National Eligibility Entrance Test.

It had said that in view of April 11 judgement decks were cleared for holding of Common Entrance Examination and there is no impediment in having the test for admission to Medical Colleges for current academic year 2016-17.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

‘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.

Comments