Rahul Gandhi lashes out at Centre over conducting NEET exams amid SC refusal to postpone

A day after the Supreme Court refused to postpone NEET-UG21 exams, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted blaming the Government of India (GoI) for being 'blind to students’ distress'. The top court on Monday feared 'uncertainty' and added that exams cannot be postponed over a petition from few students. It further stated that the Court's intervention would cause 'strain and pain' to many students. The NEET-UG21 exams commence on September 12. 

Rahul Gandhi: Postpone #NEET exam

Supreme Court's ruling on NEET exams

In a statement, the apex court bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice CT Ravikumar stated that the students should 'burn the midnight oil' and prepare for the examinations. Observing that only 1% of students will appear for the improvisation exam the SC bench said that the entire exam cannot be changed for that. When asked to allow petitioners to at least table their points, the bench said that they are free to make representations before the authorities. Meanwhile, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta argued that preparations have already been made for the exam, and most candidates have already made travel arrangements. 

After hearing the arguments of Advocate Shoeb Alam who was appearing for the petitioners, the Court passed the following order: 

"Relief claimed is to quash public notice issued scheduling NEET UG 2021 on 12th Sept. For reasons canvassed by petitioners’ counsel, we are not impressed nor willing to show any indulgence to petitioners or allow them to invoke remedy under Article 32. If petitioners so desire they are free to make representations to competent authority who may consider it on its own merits at earliest. Beyond this we make it clear we haven’t expressed any opinion on several opinions canvassed," the bench added.

NEET 2021

Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the National Entrance Eligibility Test 2021 (NEET) Under Graduate 2021 admit card on the official website. The medical exams are to be conducted on September 12, 2021. The registration procedure was conducted on August 15. The exam will be held in pen and paper-based mode. NTA-UG 2021 has also released the admit cards for eligible candidates. The candidates can now visit the following official website link to download the admit card.