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Association of Managements of Unaided Private Medical & Dental College & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors.

Interlocutory Application · Neutral citation not assigned (Interlocutory Application No. 2 in Transfer Case (C) No. 7 of 2013, heard together with a large batch of connected transfer petitions, interlocutory applications and writ petitions relating to NEET)Decided 9 May 2016
Interlocutory Application No. 2 in Transfer Case (C) No. 7 of 2013, heard together with a large batch of connected transfer petitions, interlocutory applications and writ petitions relating to NEET
Justice Anil R. Dave · Justice Shiva Kirti Singh · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Background

After the Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India's 2010 notifications introducing a single national NEET exam were struck down in 2014 and then later recalled on review in April 2016, the Union/MCI/CBSE informed the Court that NEET would after all be held for admissions in 2016-17. Private, including minority, medical and dental colleges then filed applications seeking to modify the Court's 28 April 2016 order, arguing (among other things) that a State-conducted entrance test infringed their institutional autonomy, while some students separately sought relief over being caught between NEET-I and a planned NEET-II.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that a recent Constitution Bench ruling (Modern Dental College v. State of M.P.) had already rejected the argument that a State-conducted entrance test violates private/minority institutions' autonomy, drawing a distinction between the Union's exclusive power to set minimum educational standards and the States' overlapping power to implement them. Finding no merit in the colleges' applications to modify the NEET order, the Court dismissed them. It did grant relief to anxious students: anyone who had missed NEET-I, or who had appeared but felt unprepared, was allowed to appear in NEET-II instead (after opting out of NEET-I), with the Court-appointed Oversight Committee also supervising NEET-II. The Court clarified that only NEET would qualify students for MBBS/BDS admission going forward, and disposed of all the connected applications and writ petitions on that basis.

Lesson Learnt

A state or national government can mandate a uniform, centrally-conducted entrance exam for professional courses like MBBS/BDS without violating private or minority institutions' autonomy, so long as the exam itself doesn't touch on reservation policy or other protected rights, and courts will try to build in fairness safeguards (like a second exam window) for students caught in the transition to a new system.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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