The Supreme Court on Monday recalled its controversial 2013 verdict scrapping single common entrance test for admission to MBBS, BDS and medical post graduation courses.
A five-judge Constitution bench said that the majority verdict by three-judge bench of then chief justice of India Altamas Kabir was passed without discussion.
Allowing the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET), the five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice AR Dave were unanimous in saying that the July 18, 2013, 2:1 verdict of the three-judge bench, which had paved the way for private colleges to conduct their own examination, "needs reconsideration" as "the majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents".
"Suffice it is to mention that the majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents and more particularly, we find that there was no discussion among the members of the Bench before pronouncement of the judgment," the apex court said.
"We, therefore, allow these review petitions and recall the judgment dated July 18, 2013 and direct that the matters be heard afresh. The review petitions stand disposed of as allowed," it said.
Justice Dave in the 2013 verdict had given a dissenting verdict, while Justice Vikramjit Sen (since retired) had shared the views and findings of then CJI Kabir on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The verdict, delivered on the day when CJI Kabir demitted office, had created a buzz in the apex court corridors as an advocate had posted on a social networking site about the outcome in advance.
Interestingly, Justice Dave then too in his dissenting judgement had said the three judges of the bench "had no discussion on the subject due to paucity of time" which is normally done.
Allowing the petitions seeking review of the controversial 2013 judgement, the bench also comprising justices A K Sikri, R K Agrawal, Adarsh Kumar Goel and R Banumathiordered the petitions filed by Christian Medical College, Vellore and others, on which the verdict was delivered, "be heard afresh".
Students now appear for several entrance examinations conducted by government and private medical colleges.
Earlier, a petitioner in the plea had claimed that the minority view in the judgement rightly held that if NEET is conducted under the supervision of the apex professional body, no extraneous and irrelevant factors like caste, creed, social or economic standing would come into play.
(With PTI Inputs)
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