Delhi HC dismisses plea to postpone NEET UG Exam, says no merit in petition

New Delhi, Jul 14: The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the plea to postpone the medical and dental admission test scheduled for July 17. The court pointed out that it was too late and the petition was misconceived. Clearly not amused, the court also said that it is not going to levy costs because these are students.

"I was quite inclined to pass order against the petitioner but only because these are students we are not going. If such petitions are filed then the court will not shy away from imposing costs," Justice Narula noted as he dismissed the plea. He further added that there was no merit in the petition.

On the concerns regarding flood situation, the court pointed out that it is the Monsoon season. ''We are in monsoon season. That cannot be the basis that there are floods in some districts. Something or the other keeps happening in our country," Justice pointed out.

The row over NEET-UG exam refuses to die down with thousands of MBBS aspirants demanding the postponement of medical entrance exam scheduled on July 17, saying it's "too close" to other competitive exams, such as JEE Mains and CUET, giving them very limited time to prepare.

NEET aspirants have been seeking postponement of the exam date by at least 40 to 60 days which will give them ample time for preparation. Students argue that the counselling process of concluded only in March this year, leaving them with just three months window to revise the entire syllabus.

Earlier, aspirants had also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defer the NEET 2022 date. They used the hashtag PMOHelpNEETUGAspirants on Twitter to highlight the issue.

On the other hand, the NTA has released the NEET UG admit card. Over 18 lakh candidates have applied for the medical entrance exam this year. The common medical entrance test is slated to be held across 546 cities in India and 14 cities outside India with a new exam pattern where students will also be given 20 minutes extra to attempt the paper. However, the number of question remain unchanged.