Boon for medical aspirants: SC removes upper age limit for NEET

Kolkata: Hundreds of medical aspirants from Bengal have expressed a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court passed a ruling that lifted the upper age limit for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), a national level medical

entrance examination.

Many medical aspirants from the state demanded that the Centre withdraws the upper age limit of the applicants who are eager to study medical. Earlier, the Centre had imposed a restriction on the upper age limit of candidates.

According to the norms imposed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), General category students below the age of 25 were allowed to appear for the medical entrance examination while in case of reserved category students the upper age limit was fixed at 30.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned here that a city based doctor, Dr A K Maity wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to take some steps to withdraw the upper age limit of the candidates who aspire to study medical. According to Dr Maity, many general and reserved category students from Bengal are interested to study medical despite crossing the upper age limit.

Even in last year, the Centre had imposed the upper age limit on the same. It was learnt that there were around 14,000 medical aspirants in the country who were willing to appear for the medical entrance examination but fail to do so due to the age bar.

In Bengal, the number could be around 400-500, said Dr Maity, an expert in the field of medical education in the country.

"We are thankful to the Supreme Court who has passed a ruling allowing the students above the age group to appear for the NEET. The Apex Court also extended the last date of filling up the NEET application by seven days across the country. This is no doubt a remarkable decision which will give an opportunity to many deserving candidates who are willing to appear for the medical entrance examination," Dr Maity said.

It may be mentioned that a 45-year-old Pradip Haldar, a share cropper from a remote village in Murshidabad had cleared the medical entrance examination in the state but failed to secure admission in a medical college as he ranked below on the merit list.

There had been instances in Bengal where students above the stipulated age group cleared the state level medical entrance examination conducted by the state government as there was no restriction on the upper age limit in the state, Dr

Maity maintained.