Supreme Court Refuses To Postpone NEET-MDS 2024 Exam

The Supreme Court has refused to postpone the National Eligibility Entrance Test-Master of Dental Surgery (NEET MDS) 2024.

NEET MDS 2024: Supreme Court refuses to postpone exam; says ‘inappropriate to interfere at this stage’. (Representative Image)

The Union Government informed the Supreme Court on Friday, March 15, that it has extended the internship cut-off date for the NEET MDS exam from March 31, 2024, to June 30, 2024. Acknowledging this update, the Court closed an application filed by NEET MDS aspirants seeking to reschedule the NEET MDS 2024 exam, scheduled for March 18, 2024, and to extend the cut-off for eligibility after revising the internship completion dates.

The Court declined to issue orders to postpone the exam from its scheduled date, noting that around 28,000 students are slated to appear for the exam.

While hearing the matter on Friday, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said, “An effort has been made by the National Dental Commission (NDC) to bring back on rails the commencement of dental courses to the pre-COVID schedule. This cannot be regarded as arbitrary to seek intervention of court. On parameters of judicial review, we think it is inappropriate to interfere at this stage. We decline to intervene in the present matter.”

On February 16, NEET-MDS aspirants approached the Supreme Court seeking the postponement of the exam and revision of the internship completion cut-off date. They cited COVID-related delays affecting more than 8,000 students' ability to finish their internships before the deadline, thus barring them from the exam. The Court disposed of the petition on February 21, directing the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to address the issue within a week.

Subsequently, on March 7, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) released a notice extending the internship completion cut-off date for NEET-MDS eligibility until June 30, 2024. However, the exam date remained unchanged. In response, the students filed a miscellaneous application in the Supreme Court, seeking to reopen the petition, arguing that the Union had not made a decision on the matter.