NEET issue: Common medical entrance exam deferred this year, Centre to issue ordinance

New Delhi: The Centre has decided to issue an ordinance or an executive order to defer the implementation of NEET or the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - the common entrance test for medical and dental courses - for state governments and their affiliated institutions for this academic year.

The exam, however, will be applicable for those applying for Central government and private management institutions under the management quota.

The move comes in the aftermath of a meeting between Union Health Minister JP Nadda and state health ministers to discuss the issue.

The state government representatives had asked the Centre to consider the stress the students will face if uncertainty prevailed.

The central government held two rounds of hectic deliberations to build consensus before taking the Ordinance route.

JP Nadda first held meetings with health ministers of 14 states. Another meeting was later held between leaders of the Congress, the INLD, Left and PDP and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.

So far 6.5 lakh students have already sat for the first phase of NEET held on May 1. The next phase of the exam is scheduled for July 24.

Last month, the Supreme Court said that students need to take only one common entrance test, the NEET, for entry to medical colleges, following a large number of complaints about corruption in a situation where all state governments and private medical colleges held their own exams.

But after the court's order, several states -- including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - had said the implementation of the common entrance test should be deferred by a year.