The SC has refused to interfere in the age limit of the NEET, 2018 examinations. The students taking the examinations have filed a petition seeking a relaxation of the age limit to take the exams.
The petitions sought to relax the age limit 30 years for the reserved category to take the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance test, 2018. As the rule stands, students over 25 years from the general category and 30 years of the reserved category will not be able to sit the exams. The Supreme Court refused to interfere with CBSE’s decision to fix the age limit.
A batch of ten students who are above the age of 25 challenged the age limit. The CBSE had imposed the age limit following the notification issued by the Medical Council of India on January 22nd, 2018, which amended the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997. The students argued that the age restriction was not there for the students appearing for entrance exams of colleges like AIIMS. Advocate Amit Kumar argued for the students, that the decision was arbitrary and illegal. The petition said that the age limit lacked rationale. The students also argued that the apex court had stayed the matter of the age limit for taking entrance tests to law courses should be set at 20 years for the integrated course and 30 years for the 3-year course. The petition also says that the age limit violates the constitution that guarantees the right to equality before the law for every person.
A bench constituted of S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao rejected the petition, however. But it allowed the students to take the matter to the High Court instead. Advocate Mukund P. Unny appearing in court on behalf of a student from Kerala said that it would be hard for all students from across the country to appear in the High Court on time and before March 9th. As of now, only those from the general category who are below the age of 25 as of May 6th, 2018 or less will be able to take the exam.