SC notice to Centre, MCI on plea seeking NEET centres in Gulf region

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre on a petition filed by parents of applicants for the NEET UG 2020 working in Qatar challenging a Kerala High Court order dismissing their demand for allotment of NEET centres in Gulf region. 

A Bench headed by Justice LN Rao asked the Centre and Medical Council of India to respond to the petition which demanded that if it was not possible to have NEET examination centres abroad the test should be postponed until the COVID19 crisis was over.

Filed by Abdul Azeez, general secretary, Kerala Muslim Culture Centre, Qatar, the PIL submitted that there were 4,000 such students registered with NEET-UG from Qatar who faced problems in getting their documents attested from Indian Embassy in Qatar.

This year’s NEET was scheduled in May but due to the pandemic, it was rescheduled to July 26 and then to September 13. It will be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) in pen and paper-based mode. 

Students had already booked their tickets for India to write the exam but COVID19 lockdown led to a ban on international flights making it impossible for the students to travel to India, the petitioners submitted. They said even after resumption of flights via Vande Bharat mission, the petitioners could not get a seat booked in these flights.