Karnataka High Court Puts NEET Entrance On Hold

The Karnataka High court stayed the single National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) proposed by the Dental Council of India to select the candidates for both undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in all types of dental college across the country.

Justice A.S. Bopanna passed the interim order on the petitions filed by the Karnataka Private Medical and Dental Colleges Association and JSS University, challenging the notifications issued by the DCI on May 31, 2012.

The petitioner explain that there were many shortcomings in the notifications that would jeoparadise the careers of lakhs of students all over India if not addressed, the association also contended that the curriculum followed in class 11 & 12 in all the states was different from the curriculum proposed for the NEET Entrance exam.

"This has created tremendous confusion in the minds of the students as the teachers are not trained to teach the proposed syllabus", id has been stated in the petitions.

DCI issued the notifications under the power granted to it, but such a power could not override the prevailing process of admission to dental course in Karnataka under the provisions of the legislative enactment.

It has been claimed in the petitions that the notifications contemplating NEET were issued without providing ant opportunity to the petitions, as well as the Karnataka Government, to be heard.

The petitions stated, the notifications issued by the DCI also interfered with the autonomy of the deemed universities, which were granted greater autonomy in the admissions process.