VANSHIKA YADAV Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This batch of matters concerns the validity of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test[1] for undergraduate students. The petitions were disposed of in terms of the directions issued by this Court by its judgment dtd. 23/7/2024. Detailed reasons were to follow the order. They are recorded in this judgment.

(2.) The National Testing Agency[2] conducts the NEET every year for admission into medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for the MBSS course. Of the seats available for the MBBS course, approximately 56,000 seats are in government hospitals and about 52,000 are in private colleges. Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha also utilise the results of the NEET for admission.

(3.) The NEET is divided into four segments comprising Physics, Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology. Each sec. contains forty-five questions. The test comprises a total of one hundred and eighty questions. Four marks are awarded for every question which is attempted correctly and one mark is subtracted for each incorrect answer. Questions which are not attempted attract neither positive nor negative marks. Hence, the test carries a maximum of 720 marks in total. The total duration of the test was three hours and twenty minutes.