With President Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test ordinance before he embarked on his China visit, the ground was prepared on Tuesday for exempting State government medical colleges from the Supreme Court-mandated single all-India entrance exam for a year.

Statutory support

Stating that the ordinance had given a “firm and statutory” support to the common entrance test, Health Minister J.P. Nadda told a press conference that all post-graduate (PG) admissions will be done through NEET this year. For under-graduate (UG) courses, an exemption has been made for ‘State quota’ seats in government medical colleges and private institutions for this academic session.

The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016, and The Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016, are being promulgated to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and Dentists Act, 1948, respectively to make way for a uniform entrance examination for UG and PG courses, with a stipulation that for the 2016-17 academic session, the States can opt to conduct their own examinations for UG courses. The first phase of NEET was conducted on May 1, and the second phase is scheduled to be held on July 24. “The State government seats — both in government and private medical colleges — will be exempt from the purview of NEET regulations if the State government so opts. The exemption is only for this academic session,” said Mr. Nadda.

For this year, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Bihar and Chandigarh will admit students under NEET. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, which do not conduct an entrance examination for medical and dental colleges, will continue to admit students on the basis of marks obtained in Class XII examinations this year.