May 3, 2013, 12:00 am
Relieving thousands of Urdu medium students to get admission in MBBS/BDS through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-2013, the Supreme Court of India today directed CBSE (Central board of Secondary Education) to conduct the supplementary NEET- 2013 in Urdu medium for the students of Maharashtra only within 8 weeks from today.
Moreover, the Apex Court did not provide any relief for the candidates who had already filled up the forms and chose the other medium of question paper. �They cannot change their medium. They will have to take the entrance test in their already opted medium�As for the left over candidates who were desirous of taking the entrance test in Urdu medium will have to fill up the fresh forms as per the fresh notification of CBSE for Urdu medium students,� the court observed.
The Supreme Court took decision after hearing the views of MCI (medical counsel of India) which was sought within a week in a notice sent.
Responding to the notice, the MCI had argued that the CBSE only acted on what Maharashtra government had recommended. The CBDE had sought representations from various states regarding the medium of entrance test. The Government of Maharashtra had recommended the medium of entrance test for NEET-2013 in Marathi language only and did not recommended the Urdu medium.
Representing JUH, senior advocate June Chaudhari, assisted by Shakil Ahmad Syed, Mohd. Parvez Dabas, SA Saud, Mohd. Moonis Abbasi in the petition had earlier urged the court to issue a direction, in the interest of thousands of Urdu medium students, to respondents to include Urdu as medium of examination like other eight national and regional languages were included.
They argued that the respondents� decision of conducting the NEET in English, Hindi and other six regional languages excluding Urdu language is discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable and violates Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. They further maintained that even Marathi language was included even though there is not a single Marathi Medium Science Junior college all over Maharashtra, whereas, there are more than 7800 Urdu medium students and the number of junior colleges in which the medium of instruction is Urdu is as high as 227 in the state. The total number of such junior colleges in the entire state is thus much higher, whereas Marathi medium students are only about 350.
