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HC fiat on admission of non-NEET candidates for AYUSH courses

Colleges told to prepare candidate list strictly based on merit; admission will be subject to final court order

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to issue a public notice on or before October 15 calling upon NEET qualified candidates, interested to seek admission to AYUSH courses in various institutions in Karnataka, to approach the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), and the respective colleges for admission under management quota seats before October 25.

After completing admission of NEET qualified candidates based on their order of merit, the colleges will have to prepare a list of candidates, who have not appeared for NEET but possess minimum qualification to undergo AYUSH courses, and to be admitted strictly based on their merit. However, admission of non-NEET candidates would be subject to the final order of the court.

A Division Bench comprising Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar passed the interim order on the petitions filed by Karnataka State AYUSH Medical Colleges Federation and several institutions offering AYUSH courses. The petitioners had sought court’s permission to admit non-NEET qualified candidates to AYUSH courses in view of the confusion over whether NEET is mandatory like for MBBS and BDS courses.

The court said that the colleges must submit merit-list of admitted non-NEET candidates to the KEA and the university concerned by completing admissions before October 31.

The colleges have pointed out that only 40% of seats in AYUSH courses have been filled up so far and remaining seats are vacant owing to non-availability of NEET qualified candidates.

Meanwhile, the court noticed that there is confusion over applicability of NEET for AYUSH courses as bulletin on NEET does not refer to AYUSH courses but the authorities in April this year issued directions to the institutions to make admissions only based on NEET ranking. The court also considered the petitioners’ argument that there was confusion among students on requirement to appear for NEET for AYUSH courses this year as admission without NEET was permitted during the previous academic year.

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