After much confusion over NEET Results 2017, the Supreme Court has extended the deadline for admission to medical colleges to June 12. The extended deadline applies to Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University and other government universities.
The vacation bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and Deepak Gupta said that these colleges will continue with the counselling and admission process until June 12, according to the Press Trust of India.
The Allahabad High Court on May 29 had passed an order saying that 50 percent of the institutional quota seats in PG medical courses in these universities could be filled by students from any medical college based on their NEET ranking, but this order was set aside by the apex court.
The new order came after AMU and BHU contested the high court's order and said that it was in violation of the earlier SC order, which permits institutes to admit students from their own institution for 50 percent of the seats. The Medical Council of India too favoured AMU and BHU and said that the high court's order was in violation of the set regulations.
Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh appeared for BHU and said that the high court's order must be stayed as the "entire apple cart" cannot be reversed. Senior advocate Salman Khurshid too spoke up for the universities and explained that the order must be stayed because the universities have already admitted a few students for the academic year, who cannot be turned away now.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of Secondary Education is yet to announce the result date of NEET 2017. The board had earlier told the Madras and Gujarat high courts that it was impossible to declare the results on June 8 as the board would need about 15 days to declare the results after the court lifts the stay. It also said that the stay needs to be lifted soon as the future of about 11.38 lakh students is currently hanging by a thread.
"The delay in declaring results due to the interim order is already beyond permissible limit. The CBSE will require 15 days to declare the result if it is permitted to do so," the Times of India quoted the CBSE counsel as saying.
