India News | SC Asks NEET-PG-22 Aspirants to Make Representation to Govt for Extending Deadline for Internship

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the MBBS students seeking extending one-year internship deadline beyond May 31, criteria for aspirants for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-PG-22, to make a representation to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath said that looking at the hardship faced by the aspirants, the MoHFW may decide on the representation within one week from the date of its submission.

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“Since the issue which has been raised by the petitioners require some element of determining of facts as well as aspects of policy, we are of the view that the ends of justice will be met by permitting the petitioners to submit a representation to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, setting out the nature of hardship, which is being faced by the students placed similarly to the petitioners”, the bench said.

It added, “We, therefore, request that the representation be considered expeditiously within one week of its submission”.

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The bench said that it is not expressing any opinion on the issue at this stage.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the MBBS Students, said that the examination has been extended but there is one important criterion that needs to be looked into.

He said that the criteria are that students appearing for the examination have to complete a one-year mandatory internship by May 31, 2022, to be eligible for the NEET-PG-22 examination.

“This May 31, the deadline can be extended by a month or two”, he said, adding that many candidates had joined COVID duties and hence could not commence internships early.

The senior advocate further said that different medical institutions have different internship schedules and some started in May 2021, June 2021, or July 2021.

“The last lot may be in September 2021”, he said, adding that the examination which was scheduled for March 2022, has been now postponed to May 2022 on account of the COVID pandemic and hence this deadline can also be extended by a month or two.

The bench said that it would be like stepping into the policy decision as there is no uniform date for commencement of the internship across the country.

“Suppose, even if we extend the May 31, deadline by a month or two, there may be a group of students who still miss out on the one-year deadline. It is more of a policy decision, let the government consider your representation”, the bench said as it disposed of the matter.

The top court noted that the date of NEET-PG-22, which was earlier scheduled to be held in March, has now been extended.

On February 4, the top court had said it would hear the plea filed by MBBS students seeking postponement of the NEET scheduled to be held on March 12 for admissions to post-graduate medical courses.

The top court had noted that the examination has been postponed for 6-8 weeks.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the six students who have filed the petition, had pointed out that postponement of the exam by 6-8 weeks only impacted the larger relief sought by the petitioners but still some issues remain.

He said the issue which remains was that the deadline of May 31, 2022, has been fixed for completion of a one-year internship which was difficult to meet as the doctors after an announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have got engaged in COVID duty.

Sankaranarayanan had said that pursuant to the Prime Minister's announcement circulars were issued by various colleges and these doctors joined as frontline workers for COVID duties.

The petitioners Shivam Satyarthee and others in their plea filed through Dubey Law Chambers have claimed that many MBBS graduates would not be able to take up the examination due to non-completion of the mandatory internship period.

They have sought a direction to the National Board of Examination to defer the scheduled test until various requirements, such as completion of the mandatory internship period, set forth in the PG Regulations, are met by many aspirants.

Several hundred MBBS graduates, whose internship got halted due to their duty in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, would be rendered ineligible from appearing in the NEET-PG test due to lack of mandatory internship duty that too without their fault, the plea said while seeking deferment of the test.

It referred to the statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 3 last year to postpone NEET-PG 2021 by at least four months and the fact that the services of final year MBBS doctors will be utilised to handle mild Covid cases.

The plea challenges the condition provided in the information bulletin which provides for a deadline of May 31, 2022, for completion of the internship.

"The petitioners (with 1500 candidates) have mentioned that they were in Covid duties in the year 2021 and therefore their internship was postponed. They have submitted that they are victims of circumstances and that they were not informed at any time that serving in Covid duties would tantamount to a situation where they will not be eligible to appear for the NEET-PG," advocate Tanvi Dubey said.

The plea has sought an extension of the deadline of completion of the internship from May 31.

The apex court, on January 7, had paved the way for starting the stalled NEET-PG 2021 counselling process based on the existing 27 per cent OBC and 10 per cent EWS reservations in the All India Quota seats, saying there is an "urgent need" to begin the admission process.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)