Plea seeking direction to postpone NEET-PG exams scheduled for April 18 withdrawn after Centre's order
Apr 16, 2021
New Delhi [India], April 16 : A group of MBBS doctors who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking direction to postpone the NEET-PG exams scheduled on April 18 citing growing concerns amid the sudden upsurge of Covid-19 cases, on Friday withdrew their plea as the government has already postponed the exam.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde allowed advocate Pallavi Pratap to withdraw the plea after it was informed that the petition has become infructuous in light of the government order postponing the exam.
The plea challenged the conduct of NEET-PG 2021 scheduled to be conducted on April 18, 2021.
The plea challenged the clause in the April 9 notification of the National Board of Examinations, which bar Covid-19 infected persons from exams, as an arbitrary exclusion.
The petition filed by nine doctors across the country sought directions to allow candidates who may have contracted Covid-19 in the past 15 days to re-appear in the test. It highlights that the doctors got infected with Covid-19 while performing their duties as frontline warriors, and hence it is "unreasonable and discriminatory to totally oust them from exam."
The examination, which was initially scheduled on January 5, 2021, was postponed, even though the pandemic situation then was comparatively under control. However, the government is hell-bent in conducting the proceedings examination when the cases are all the high and some of the states have gone I to partial lockdown or complete lockdown, warrant deferment of the examination.
To conduct examination when there is a massive surge of Covid-19 cases is arbitrary and unreasonable, the plea said, adding that the majority of doctors have not received the second dose of Covid-19 vaccination.
The plea contended that compelling doctors who are treating Covid-19 patients on a daily basis to attend a physical exam will be equivalent to putting the lives of thousands of people in peril.
The plea referred to the recent decision to cancel the CBSE Class 10 exams and to postpone Class 12 exams, which were scheduled to commence from May 4.
