Health Ministry opposes CBSE's plea for CET in SC

Updated on: Monday, November 01, 2010

The Union Health Ministry opposed in the Supreme Court the plea of the CBSE seeking permission to conduct Common Entrance Tests (CET) for medical and engineering courses across the country.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has moved an application for holding the CET from the coming academic year. The counsel for the Health Ministry said there were some practical difficulties and termed the move as a "pre-mature" decision.

The submission prompted a bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik to ask the counsel, "Are there practical difficulties or is it a departmental fight between the two ministries?"  It asked the Health Ministry to file an affidavit within three weeks elaborating the grounds for opposing the CBSE's plea for holding the CET.

The CBSE had filed the application in the pending petition in which the Medical Council of India (MCI) has sought to start single eligibility-cum-entrance examination for MBBS and post-graduate medical courses in the country. The apex court on October 22 had sought responses within four weeks from the Centre and all states and union territories.

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