SC relaxes age limit, allows aspirants above 25 to take NEET

New Delhi : Relaxing the age limit fixed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), the Supreme Court on Friday allowed aspirants above 25 to appear for this year’s NEET.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said the candidates could fill up forms till April 5 for the test scheduled for May 7.
The order would be beneficial to lakhs of medical aspirants above 25 who were rendered ineligible because of the MCI regulation.
The bench–which is seized of petitions challenging the age criterion prescribed by the MCI for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical and dental courses–said it would take up the matter in July.
The bench passed the interim order after senior advocates Amrendra Sharan and Indy Malhotra–representing individual applicants–contended that the age limit prohibited a large number of aspirants who wanted to pursue the course after graduation. The CBSC counsel opposed it on the grounds that the formalities for the examination had already been finalised and it was difficult to redo the entire exercise.
Unimpressed, the court chose to relax the age limit.It said the online notification clarifying the age limit and the extension of date be uploaded on the official website by Friday evening. The MCI had last month defended its regulation stipulating an upper age limit of 25 with a maximum three attempts for admission to MBBS/BDS course, saying the study of medicine required “sharp young minds”.