Reviewing its july 18, 2013 order against the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), the Supreme Court upheld a review petition filed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and reinstated NEET on April 11. Performance in this common entrance test will determine admission into public and private medical and dental colleges countrywide which offer 52,000 undergraduate and 25,000 postgraduate seats. By reversing its 2013 judgement and restoring NEET, the apex court invalidated nearly 100 pre-medical entrance exams of private college associations and also scrapped the medical/dental CET (common entrance tests) conducted by state governments.

On April 28, just two days before the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Test (AIPMT) was scheduled, the highest court ordered the AIPMT to be converted into NEET as the single national common medical entrance test, to be held in two phases this year.

Thus the AIPMT scheduled on May 1 became NEET phase I. On May 9, in a follow-up order the court scrapped the pre-medical entrance tests of state governments and made NEET mandatory for admission into undergraduate as well as postgraduate medical education countrywide.

The NEET controversy is essentially centred around how 24,660 MBBS and 9,600 postgrad seats in the country’s 224 private medical colleges should be allotted. The fundamental right of these institutions to admit students of their choice without charging capitation fees and provided admissions are based on merit through a fair and transparent process including conducting their own exams, was upheld by an 11-judge Supreme Court bench after a long struggle by private professional education providers in T.M.A. Pai Foundation vs. Union of India (2002).

And although in P.A. Inamdar’s Case (2005), the apex court upheld its ratio decidendi in the TMA Pai Case, state governments have been capping tuition fees of private medical/dental colleges within their jurisdiction through negotiated agreements with representative organisations of private medical colleges such as the Consortium of Medical and Engineering Colleges — Karnataka (COMED-K).

But, the informal capping of tuition fees has reportedly resurrected the practice of private medical colleges, entitled to a 20 percent ‘management quota’, demanding — and receiving — huge capitation fees of Rs.60 lakh-Rs.3.5 crore for admissions.

Following massive scandals in the Medical Council of India whose notorious former chairman Ketan Desai was neck deep in college recognition and capitation fee scandals, there was a national outcry for one standard entrance test for all medical colleges — NEET.

However with state governments protesting the abolition of their common entrance tests (CETs) on the grounds of federalism and states’ autonomy and arguing that most students had already written state CETs, on May 24, the BJP-led NDA government issued an ordinance giving state governments permission to conduct their CETs this year. On May 27, the Supreme Court dismissed a writ against the ordinance stating that “there should be some certainty for students now. Moreover, the ordinance is only for this year”.

Nevertheless, most educationists and medical practitioners are convinced that like the pan-India IIT-JEE, NEET will soon find public acceptance and enable the most meritorious students to enter medical colleges while eliminating the need for students to write several entrance exams and the scourge of capitation fees. “There will be teething pains initially, but in the long term, national medical admission tests will improve the quality of medical education by bringing the best talent into the profession apart from sparing students the pain of writing multiple entrance exams,” says Dr. Rajib Dasgupta, professor of social medicine and community health at Delhi’s showpiece Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

For nearly 650,000 students who write pre-medical entrance exams annually in India, NEET is certain to provide much needed relief and transparency in admission into medical colleges. However, the last word on NEET is still to be said as several vested interests including the deep-rooted political nexus will make all-out efforts to sabotage it by questioning its constitutionality and the advisability of a single test for the entire country. But with the Supreme Court adamant on NEET as the sole examination to determine admission into medical colleges, it is likely to be gradually accepted.

Yet even though this may settle the issue of admissions for medical education, the issue of ‘reasonable’ tuition fees chargeable by private colleges is still open to interpretation. So the litigation burden of private colleges has not yet been lifted.

Autar Nehru (Delhi)