NEET aspirants to knock at SC door

Jalandhar, July 18

Parents of NEET-qualified students who are going to appear for MBBS counselling under Baba Farid University of Health Sciences today said: “We have decided to knock the door of the Supreme Court after their petition against allowing the aspirants, who have not passed Class X from Punjab, to take admission in the state colleges got rejected in the High Court.”

Parents from Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana, led by Narinder Sharma, said: “Other states, including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, are allowing only those students who have passed Classes X, XI and XII from their respective states to appear for admission in medical colleges of those states. But Punjab, despite an undertaking given in 2014 regarding following the same rule for 2019-20 admissions, has backtracked from it and are now allowing all aspirants, who did not pass Class X from here.”

The parents and aspirants, who came along at the press conference, said it was an injustice to them as outside students who had taken dummy admissions here for Classes XI and XII were competing with them.

Students said: “Their participation will eliminate us in the race and we will remain the losers. The NEET examination was held on May 5 and the results were declared on June 5. The state government issued an admission notification the next day without including the Class X clause in it.”

“We feel cheated as the state government has withdrawn from its own commitment. Many students who have 500th rank will remain ineligible for admission,” they added. — TNS