Delhi high court says CBSE’s upper-age limit for NEET will stay

Source – indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court upheld a CBSE notification on Friday fixing an age cap of 25 and 30 years for general and reserved categories, respectively, to apply for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG, a pre-qualification for MBBS.

The high court dismissed petitions challenging the CBSE notification that laid down the upper age limit even as it struck down a clause that prohibited students from open schools, or those who have studied privately, from appearing in the exam.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar noted that the clause in the CBSE’s January 22 notification prescribing the age cap for general and reserved category candidates was “legal and valid”. But it found as “unconstitutional” the CBSE’s insistence to disqualify candidates who have studied from recognised open school boards.

“Students or candidates, who have done class 12 from National Institute of Open Schooling or recognised open school state boards, would not be treated as per se disqualified for selection and appearance in NEET examination. Their NEET results, when otherwise eligible, would be declared with other candidates,” the high court said in its judgment.