NEET PG: Supreme Court dismisses plea for extension of internship deadline
Highlight
- SC dismisses plea seeking extension of time limit for completion of internship
- The bench of judges said that the extension of the time limit would hamper the academic programme.
- Initially, the internship deadline was 31 May which was later extended to 31 July
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by a group of doctors seeking extension of the deadline for completion of internship for NEET-PG beyond July 31, 2022, whose internship was delayed due to COVID duties. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi said that the extension of the deadline beyond July 31, 2022 will disrupt the entire academic program.
The bench observed, “Whenever there is a cut-off, there is a possibility of some students falling on either side of the dividing line. Any extension of the cut-off will result in disruption of the education programme. It added that the alternative prayer for inclusion of COVID duties would also involve the court to micro-manage the course.
“While there will undoubtedly be an element of difficulty, it will not be possible to disrupt the education of a large body of students at this stage. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to interfere in our view”, the bench said. Initially, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati Said that July 31 is the date till which the internship can be extended.
“The exam is scheduled to be held in May and counseling is scheduled to take place in the third and fourth week of July. Classes are likely to start from the first or second week of August. If the internship deadline is extended beyond July 31, the entire academic session is bound to be disrupted”, he said. Bhati, however, said that during normal times the deadline is March 31 but in view of the pandemic situation it has been extended this year.
The bench agreed with the law officer that the entire academic session would be affected and said, “If we accept the plea of the petitioner, then everything will go for a toss and it will have cascading ramifications”. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that the petitioners could not do the internship earlier as they were engaged in COVID duties after an appeal was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. He said that one way to tackle the problem is to treat the COVID duty as the period of internship.
Bhati opposed the submissions and said that the COVID duties cannot be accepted as it does not cover all the specialties and accepting the submissions would amount to undermining the internship programmes. Sankaranarayanan said that the government has to do its work together and come out with some leniency. “When you need people for the requirements of COVID, you ask these doctors to go and join the duties of COVID. Now a year is wasted”, he said.
Initially, the deadline for internship was May 31, which was later extended to July 31 as the court directed the Center to consider representation. The doctors have sought directions to allow those candidates who fail to complete the internship by July 31 but are eligible as per other criteria. The petition states that the revised deadline of July 31, 2022 specifically leaves thousands of candidates from the state of Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala (among other states) ineligible to apply for NEET-PG. Because they will not apply for NEET-PG. Able to finish their internship within stipulated time.
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