New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday directed overseas students to fly India under the Vande Bharat mission to appear for National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) which has been scheduled on September 13, 2020. It further said that overseas examination centres for NEET could not be possible.
The order has come as a response to the petition filed by parents of nearly 4,000 NEET (undergraduate) candidates, has sought to alternatively postpone the examination until the COVID-19 pandemic normalises.
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The parents of these candidates, who reside in Doha, Qatar, Oman, and UAE, have approached the apex court challenging the Kerala High Court June 30 order which had dismissed their plea.
The top court earlier issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA), seeking its reply in this regard.
Later on Thursday, NTA told the apex court that it is not possible to have overseas examination centres for NEET Undergraduate 2020 as the examination is conducted in paper book format.
After consulting with MCI it clarified that as the examination is conducted through Multiple Choice Questions in paper book format given to all candidates and, uniformity has to be maintained for all candidates, therefore, NEET (UG) examination should not be conducted in online mode for candidates abroad.
NTA further said the question papers and other exam materials are to be transported from NTA headquarters to a large number of examination centres in various cities, which would require meticulous planning for safe and secure delivery of the same at the examination centres on time.
NTA contended before the court that the exams have to be held at a single time across all the centres which won't be possible in the requested case.
Meanwhile, SC has adjourned the matter for its furthering on August 21.
(Inputs from Agency)
