NEET 2018: Supreme Courts rejects plea for scrapping upper age limit

The Supreme Court has rejected a plea for scrapping the upper age limit for NEET 2018 entrance test.

New Delhi: In a major blow to hundreds of aspirants from both the general and reserved category, the Supreme Court has rejected a plea for scrapping upper age limit for candidates appearing in  National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test of 2018. 

According to reports, the top court had on Friday refused to intervene in a batch of petitions seeking to quash a notification fixing the age limit of 30 years for candidates belonging to the reserved category appearing in the NEET Entrance Test of 2018.

The ruling implies that the general category candidates older than 25 years, and those from the reserved category above 30 will not be able to appear in NEET entrance test this year.

The order was passed by the apex court bench of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao.

The bench, however, gave the petitioners liberty to approach the High Courts concerned.

While responding to the matter, the bench refused to interfere with the CBSE's decision to fix the upper age limit for the entrance test for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses.  

The CBSE had imposed the age limit on the basis of a notification issued by the Medical Council of India on January 22, 2018, amending its Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997.

The last date for applying for NEET is March 9, 2018.

Advocate Mukund P Unny, appearing on behalf of a student from Kerala named, Jasna Shayla, however, submitted that students come from various States and it would be difficult to move the High Courts on time and before March 9. 

In her petition, Jasna had argued that the age regulation “directly affects her as her age will go beyond the prescribed limit”.

The petition said the notification imposing the age limit on candidates violated the Constitution which guarantees the right to equality before the law to every person.