New Delhi, Jul 18: The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions into all medical and dental colleges.
The apex court ruled that the Medical Council of India cannot conduct a unified examination.
The bench of Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, Justices Vikramajeet Sen and Anil Dave gave a split verdict on the issue.
While Justices Kabir and Sen ruled against MCI's single entrance exam, Justice Anil Dave was in favour of the examination.
The apex court ruled that private medical colleges will conduct their own entrance examination through their associations while the states and Central government will conduct their own tests.
The medical education standoff started with Medical Council of India's decision to conduct the first-ever common entrance examination, the NEET, for admission to MBBS and post-graduate courses in medicine as well as dental courses.
The proposal was, however, opposed by the private medical and dental colleges and they moved the apex court.
In an interim order, the SC had directed the Medical Council of India (MCI) and all private colleges to start their admission process, as per the old guidelines where the MCI, state governments and private colleges conduct their separate exams.
