SC allows Pvt Medical colleges & state govts to hold their own entrance test

Scrapping MCI’s (Medical Association of India) decision, the Supreme Court has permitted all private colleges and universities and state governments to conduct their own entrance examination for post graduate medical courses. Earlier MCI had notified to conduct a common exam called National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) following which all the private colleges were barred from conducting their own exam.

Soon after, all private colleges and universities challenged the notification by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in court arguing to allow them to conduct their own entrance examination. Besides this, several state governments have opposed MCI's notification to conduct a single common entrance medical examination and filed petitions in Supreme Court against it.

The NEET exam was conducted last month for the academic year 2012-13. Nevertheless, some private colleges and institutions had already conducted the examination before the notification was released. Now the SC ruling recognises these exams.

January 15, 16 and 17 are the dates on which the SC will examine the validity of the IMA notification.