Mumbai : The special phase of NEET 2020 examination starts on 14 October i.e. today. Students from all over the country are going to participate in it. Students of Coronavirus affected areas will be able to appear for the exam. The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the National Examination Agency (NTA) to conduct the second phase of the NEET (UG) examination on October 14 for students affected by the Covid-19 epidemic and students from detained areas.
A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian granted this permission when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested to conduct the examination under special circumstances in view of the situation arising out of the Coronavirus.
The bench said, due to the earlier circumstances, the examination had to be postponed and in view of the prevailing circumstances, we the National Testing Agency organized the second phase of NEET (UG) 2019 for students affected by Covid-19 and those from the Covid-19 restricted area, it is considered appropriate to allow the candidates to appear for exam on October 14.
The bench said that the results of this examination can be declared on 16 October. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NEET examination was postponed twice – 3 May and then 26 July – and was held on 13 September.
Earlier, the apex court had dismissed the petition filed for postponement of JEE (Main) April 2020 examination in view of the increasing number of cases of Covid-19. The court had said that the education of students cannot be affected for long. The court also later dismissed the petition of ministers of six non-BJP ruled states to reconsider their August 17 order allowing JEE and NEET to conduct direct examinations.