Plea in Delhi HC challenges NCISM Act that mandates NEET for all disciplines of medical education

A plea in Delhi High Court has challenged Section 14 of NCISM Act, 2020 that mandates NEET-UG for admission to undergraduate courses in each discipline of medical education.

A plea in Delhi High Court has sought quashing of Section 14 of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) Act, 2020 that makes National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) mandatory for admission to all disciplines of undergraduate medical courses including MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BSMS, BUMS and BHMS.

As per the petitioners, even if NEET remains the mandatory examination for all disciplines of medical education, the scores of the candidates who wish to pursue AYUSH courses should be compared separately from the candidates who wish to pursue their career in modern medicine. The petition demands separate percentiles for AYUSH courses while determining the All-India Rank of a candidate and preparing the common merit list.

The plea also highlighted that the definition of medicine under the Act, from which NEET has been created states that medicine means modern scientific medicine that is different from Indian medicine, as reported by Devdiscourse.

The petitioners' advocate has submitted in the court that by keeping NEET common for all the medical education disciplines, the respondents have entirely disregarded the fact that these courses operate in different fields and are fundamentally different.

In this regard, Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy), National Commission for Indian System of Medicine, National Commission for Homeopathy, National Testing Agency and others. The bench of Justices DN Patel and Jyoti Singh has listed the matter for further hearing on March 30, 2022.

Read more:

• Supreme Court dismisses plea alleging discrepancies in NEET-UG scores
• PM Narendra Modi has taken significant steps for AYUSH development: Sarbananda Sonowal