New Delhi: On Monday i.e. March 7, 2011, the Supreme Court (SC) has given green signal to the Medical Council of India's (MCI) Common Entrance Test (CET) for admissions to Undergraduate (UG) medical courses leading to the award of Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree. As per sources, the approval has been given by a Bench of SC, comprising of Justice R V Raveendran and Justice A K Patnaik.
The Bench, while giving the approval to MCI, said that anyone aggrieved by the notification can challenge it in court. The Bench also said that if MCI thinks that they are independent and don't require any approval from the centre, then they can go ahead with its implementation and if they think they need approval from the government, then they can go to the government.
The court has directed MCI that if it has already obtained the approval of the health ministry for issuing the notification providing for common entrance test for undergraduate medical courses, then it could go ahead with its implementation. As per sources, the MCI had issued notification for common entrance test on October 21, 2010, which was kept in abeyance due to rigid opposition by the Tamil Nadu government.
The SC said that it could not continue hearing the matter. Besides, SC said that it will not say anything in the matter and if MCI, the apex body regulating medical education in the country, thinks that it can implement its notification then it can go ahead and do so.
