Maharashtra to go ahead with MH-CET, says Vinod Tawde

Medical education minister Vinod Tawde clarified on Friday that Maharashtra would go ahead with the Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) for admissions to undergraduate medical and dental courses despite the Supreme Court order making the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Neet) mandatory for admissions to medical and dental colleges across the country.

Mr Tawde said that the state government would file a review petition on Monday in the Supreme Court and two officials from Maharashtra had already been sent to Delhi for the same.

While exhorting students and parents to concentrate on the MH-CET that is scheduled for May 5, Mr Tawde said that the state was with the student community and would ensure they are not put at a disadvantage in anyway. “The MH-CET will be held as per schedule. The state will be filing a review petition in the SC on Monday and will push for a review of the Neet in two phases order,” said Mr Tawde.

Throwing light on the content of the review petition, Mr Tawde said that the state would be informing the apex court that it had adopted a single CET format for aided and unaided medical and dental colleges based on a previous SC order. The single CET was based on the state board syllabus and was implemented with a view to provide better opportunities for students from rural Maharashtra to pursue medical and dental education. He added that the review would also apprise the court that replacing CET with Neet would prove to be a major hurdle for the rural students as the latter is based on CBSE syllabus and the last minute change would result in injustice to these students.

“The state has already assigned two officials to go to Delhi and file the review petition. They will be taking the help of a senior SC advocate to prepare and file the petition. We will also highlight the fact that as both the phase I and II papers of NEET will be different, the results would also differ. This could prove to be unjust for students appearing for either one of the tests,” said Mr Tawde.