NEET 2018: 'Aadhaar not mandatory', says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has said that Aadhaar is not mandatory for NEET 2018. The court said that any other form of identification proof can be used instead of Aadhaar.

The order came on an appeal filed against an order of the Gujarat High Court. The High Court had turned down a challenge to make Aadhaar mandatory for applying for NEET 2018.

The Centre clarified in the court that Aadhaar is not needed for NEET 2018. "We have not authorised CBSE for mandatorily taking Aadhar number of students for appearing in NEET examinations," said UIDAI.

During the hearing of the case, Attorney General K K Venugopal also said, "Like in J&K, Meghalaya and Assam, other ID proofs can be given for exam."

Earlier, a plea was filed against the decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), making Aadhaar mandatory to apply for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examinations. The plea was filed by a resident of Gujarat Abid Ali Patel.

In February, the CBSE made Aadhar number mandatory for the NEET application for this year.

The examination for the NEET 2018 admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses is scheduled to be held on May 6. The Aadhaar number has been made compulsory for all candidates except those from Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya.

OneIndia News