The Two Not-So-Neat NEET Judgements

The 2013 and 2016 SC judgements on the NEET have stirred much controversy.

Change is tough and unfair. When it comes to implementing a uniform medical entrance exam across a federal state, its riddled with rightful dissent, even in the judiciary.

On 18 July 2013, the Supreme Court scrapped the government’s proposal to hold a common medical entrance exam. The decision of the three-judge bench, however, was not unanimous, and was preceded by reports of a leaked judgement.

On 28 April 2016, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice AR Dave recalled the controversial verdict, noting that “the majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents and more particularly, we find that there was no discussion among members of the Bench before pronouncement of the judgement.”

So, What’s Changed in Three Years?

Not much actually. The terms of conducting the NEET remain the same, there is no new dimension to the argument for and against a CBSE-conducted all-India exam – autonomy still remains the bone of contention between the government and private, unaided medical colleges, and state boards are still not willing to cede control over school-level education.

It’s rare for the Supreme court to recall its own verdict. Why then, would it overturn a verdict delivered by a bench headed by the former Chief Justice of India?

Judgement 1

In 2013, the three-judge bench that was hearing a petition filed by Vellore’s Christian Medical College passed a majority verdict against the implementation of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

The “majority verdict” was controversial because it did not take into consideration Justice AR Dave’s dissent – he was of the opinion that NEET “would not allow for any discrimination or influence in the process of selection.”

This was in contradiction with Chief Justice Altamas Kabir’s view that a common entrance test favoured students from metropolitan areas who “enjoy greater privileges than their counterparts in rural areas as far as education is concerned.”

Justice Vikramjit Sen (now retired) seconded Chief Justice Altamas Kabir’s view, who incidentally was retiring the same day.

Interestingly, Justice Dave also noted that there had been no discussion with the Chief Justice before the draft judgements due to “paucity of time”.

The Leak

The dissent and the majority verdict was not the only controversy that dogged the 2013 NEET judgement. Supreme Court advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, had predicted the outcome of the case in his column on a social networking website, even predicting the number of pages and paragraphs the judgement would run into. Sankaranarayanan noted that gossip corridors in the Supreme Court were abuzz with the news that Justice Kabir’s majority judgement would quash NEET.

Judgement 2

Three years later, both Justices Kabir and Sen are retired, and a constitutional bench headed by Justice AR Dave recalled the 2013 Supreme Court verdict that allowed Vellore’s Christian Medical College (CMC) to conduct its own admission test.

“Recalled, not struck down” argued senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan in court while appearing for private medical colleges. “How can an order be set aside without a hearing”, was Rajeev Dhawan’s contention, which was overruled by Justice Dave and the four other judges.

Secondly, the Supreme Court ordered the implementation of NEET on 28 April and announced the first phase of the exam would be held on a weekend’s notice on 1 May. Representing the Tamil Nadu government, senior advocate L Nageshwar Rao argued that the students in the state had no concept of entrance exams, since they are evaluated on the basis of their Class 12 exams. This was done in 2007 with the aim to bridge the parity between urban and rural students. His argument that 48 hours was too short a time for students to prepare for a CBSE-style entrance exam was also not entertained.

With the ordinance against the implementation of NEET, the government has bowed down to pressure from crucial and potential allies like Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh, and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. In doing so, it has pressed pause on its own agenda and undone Justice Dave’s determined efforts to implement a common medical entrance test.