Source : Bar and Bench
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) cut-off marks required for admission to Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course for the academic year 2020-21, be lowered by ten percentile (Harshit Agarwal v. Union of India). The candidates belonging to the general category who have secured 40 percentile shall be eligible to be considered for admission in the first year BDS course for the year 2020-2021.
General candidates with bench mark disabilities specified under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, they would be eligible if they have secured 35 percentile, the Court added.
The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Krishna Murari in a batch of petitions challenging the refusal of the Central government to reduce the cut-off marks despite the Dental Council of India (DCI) making a recommendation to that effect.
The DCI by a letter dated December 28, 2020 proposed that the percentile for admission to BDS course in Dental colleges should be lowered by 20 percentile for each category. It was stated in the said letter that only 7,71,500 students qualified for admission to MBBS/BDS, (UG) AYUSH and other UG medical courses for the year 2020-2021.
It was made clear by the DCI that the students qualified are not commensurate with the sanctioned admission capacity in different courses like MBBS, BDS, (UG) AYUSH and other UG medical courses.
The ratio of seats available for eligible students is 1: 4.5 and not 7. The basis for the decision to not reduce minimum marks that there are sufficient eligible candidates is without considering the above vital facts, the Court concluded. therefore, set aside the decision of the Central government dated December 30, 2020 to not reduce the minimum marks for admission to BDS course on the ground that it suffers from the vices of illegality and irrationality.