Chennai: In a major setback to the Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that medical colleges in the state will have to use National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) as the only basis for admissions.


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The court said all admissions for aspiring doctors have to be based on NEET and asked the Tamil Nadu government to finish counselling by September 4.


On August 17, the bench had prohibited admissions in state medical colleges till Tuesday, a day after the Union Law Ministry cleared the Tamil Nadu government’s Ordinance to exempt students from the state from Neet for a year.


Tamil Nadu has sought exemption from NEET for this year, saying it would affect the students from the state.


On August 16, the medical students from Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court seeking directive for the state government to start medical counselling soon.


This came after the NEET, which was made mandatory for admission in the MBBS and the BDS courses across India last year, got separate petitions filed at the Madras and Gujarat High Courts where medical aspirants demanded cancellation of the NEET 2017 as the Gujarati and Tamil medium paper were allegedly tougher than the English and Hindi medium.


The Madras High Court had on May 24 stayed any proceedings on the NEET result.


Keeping the urgency of the result in mind and the starting of counselling sessions for successful candidates in mind, the apex court has stayed the Madras High Court order.


Nearly 12 lakh candidates across India had appeared for the NEET in 10 languages including English, Hindi and others.


The NEET was made mandatory for admission in the MBBS and the BDS courses across India last year.