SC appoints committee to oversee MCI’s admission process

New Delhi, May 2

The Supreme Court on Monday set up a three-member committee that will oversee the counselling and admissions under the Medical Council of India until Parliament enacts a law empowering the medical regulatory body to conduct them on their own.

Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha, former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and eminent doctor Shiv Sarin are members of the committee.

The Supreme Court will hear a batch of applications seeking that NEET for admissions to undergraduate medical courses may not be thrust on the states and they may be allowed to conduct their own entrance examinations on Tuesday.

A Bench headed by the Chief Justice PS Thakur on Monday said the hearing by the special bench headed by Justice Anil R. Dave will take place on Tuesday at 2 pm after senior lawyers, including Gopal Subramaniam appearing for Jammu and Kashmir, and KK Venugopal appearing for Association of Private Medical Colleges of Karnataka, mentioned the case.

Various states, including the association of private medical colleges, are aggrieved by the top court's Friday order reiterating that admission to undergraduate medical courses will be only through National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) to be conducted by the Central Board of School Education (CBSE).

The first phase of NEET was conducted on Sunday. The second phase will be held on July 24.

In the meantime, a constitution bench of the top court on Monday upheld the Madhya Pradesh law providing for common entrance test for admission to medical courses both in government and private medical colleges.

The bench, after a majority judgement, said the admissions to the seats not filled under the management quota would be done by the state governments — IANS