West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution on Wednesday to scrap the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in the state and replace it with a new entrance exam for students who want to pursue medical studies.
The resolution condemns the National Testing Agency (NTA) for its alleged inability to conduct a free and fair examination and urges the state government to conduct joint entrance examinations in the state for the public interest at large.
Earlier on Monday, the Karnataka Cabinet approved the resolution to scrap the central exam conducted by NTA.
Last week, Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urged the central government to scrap NEET and allow states to conduct their own entrance examinations.
“The irregularities in the NEET exam are serious. It is a question of the future of lakhs of students. The Centre must scrap NEET and allow states to conduct their own entrance tests. Students from across the country can participate in the tests conducted by states,” Shivakumar stated.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed pleas seeking cancellation and re-test of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and held that there was no data on record to indicate a systemic leak of question papers and other malpractices.
The verdict came as a shot in the arm for the NDA government and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which were facing strong criticism and protests, on streets and in Parliament, over alleged large-scale malpractices like question paper leak, fraud and impersonation in the prestigious test held on May 5.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra concluded the four day-long proceedings where they heard submissions from a battery of lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the NTA, and senior advocates Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde and Mathews Nedumapra.
Over 23 lakh students appeared for the NEET-UG in 2024 for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses.
Doubts about the sanctity of the exam arose when a total of 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list. The number of candidates sharing the top rank came down to 61 from 67 after the NTA announced the revised results on July 1.
Earlier in 2021, the MK Stalin led-DMK government in Tamil Nadu had passed legislation seeking exemption from NEET. The chief minister had called the exam as discriminatory and disadvantageous to rural aspirants aspiring to pursue medical careers. A similar attempt was made by the AIADMK government under Edappadi K Palaniswami, but the bill failed to receive presidential approval in 2017.
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