President Seeks Government's Clarification For Postponing Medical Exam NEET

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee has sought clarification from the government before signing an ordinance or special order to postpone the central medical exam NEET by a year.

Mr Mukherjee has asked Health Minister JP Nadda to meet him in person and explain the reason for a turnaround after the Centre had agreed with the Supreme Court's decision to hold a central exam for students seeking admissions in medical and dental courses, sources said.

Mr Mukherjee, sources said, was also consulting in house legal experts on certain questions.

The ordinance which was cleared during a cabinet meeting on Friday will postpone the implementation of the top court's verdict which routes admission in all government colleges and private medical colleges through the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET.

The exam, however, will be applicable for those applying for Central government and private management institutions under the management quota.

Speaking to NDTV, Health Minister JP Nadda said that there was no confusion with regard to the Supreme Court's order.

"NEET has been implemented. But there were legitimate concerns of the state governments," Mr Nadda said. The Union Minister said the state governments had three concerns: ongoing examination in their respective states, parity of syllabus and the option of writing the NEET exam in regional languages.

Mr Nadda said these concerns were also raised by political parties at an all-party meet and were being resolved.

Both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have slammed the government's decision to postpone the implementation of the exam alleging that private medical colleges were being favoured over the students.

The next phase of the NEET, scheduled for July 24 will take place as scheduled, Mr Nadda had said. Nearly 6.5 lakh students wrote the exam in the first phase held on May 1.