The High Court on Wednesday refused to consider a number of applications seeking the postponement or cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Exams (NEET) scheduled for September 13.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said authorities would take all necessary steps to conduct NEET-undergraduate tests in the wake of the COVID-19 admission to medical studies.
“Sorry, let’s tend to have fun,” said the bench.
On September 4, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, including those filed by the ministers of six opposition countries, seeking a review of their August 17 order establishing a mechanism for conducting NEET and JEE exams.
The bench, which included judges R S Reddy and M-R R Shah, said all arrangements had been made by the writing authorities.
“Now everything is closed, even the review is canceled,” said the bench, adding that there is only NEET examination left now and JEE is over.
Attorney General Arvind Datar, from one of the petitioners, referring to the situation in Bihar said, “There are only two centers in Patna and Gaya. It should be postponed for a few weeks. ”
Attorney-General K T S Tulsi, who appeared in one of the petitioners, said people living in containers were not allowed to leave their homes.
“How can they give themselves tests,” Tulsi said.
Advocate Shoeb Alam, who has already filed another application, said his application contradicted the advice of the National Testing Agency conducting the test.
He said a new standard operating procedure was released on September 2 stating that if a student showed any signs of a cold or anything else, he or she would not be allowed to take the test in any other way.
“This in our view is related to university exams. The authorities will take all necessary steps to conduct the NEET test, ”said the bench.
Alam said the lock number is still valid and in Noida, there is a weekend lock.
“The weekend closure is now reversed,” notes the bench.
While Alam said the admission cards should be allowed to be used as a homecoming pass so that students could go to the exam centers, the bench said, “We can’t take out the standard method.”
On September 4, the high court rejected an application for a review of its order, which paved the way for the conduct of NEET and JEE exams.
On August 17, the high court rejected an application seeking the postponement of the JEE (Main) exams by April 2020 and the NEET-Undergraduate among several COVID-19 cases.
While refusing to disrupt medical and engineering admission tests, the high court said in August that despite the epidemic, “ultimately life must go and student work cannot be compromised for a long time and a full year can not be wasted”.
One of the appeals for a review of the August 17 order was lodged by six provincial ministers – led by parties such as Congress, TMC, JMM, NCP and Shiv Sena.
Attorney General Tushar Mehta in August assured the high court that all protections would be taken during the trials.
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