Plea in Madras High Court against CBSE centres for neet exam

Chennai: A plea has been made in Madras High Court challenging the move of CBSE to allot examination centres located in neighbouring Kerala to candidates hailing from Tamil Nadu in the forthcoming National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Neet).

After a mention was made before the First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose on Wednesday to take up the matter due to urgency, the bench has posted it for hearing before the Division Bench headed by Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh on Thursday.

According to petitioner-advocate S. Kalimuthu Mylavan, CBSE had issued an information bulletin to the candidates appearing for Neet examination for the academic year 2018-19 for undergraduate medical courses. 

The examination is scheduled to be held on May 6, 2018 across the country.CBSE has issued provisional admit card - Neet (UG) through its website to those who applied for the test. Soon after downloading the admit card, they were shocked to note that they were directed to appear for the test in various examination centres in Kerala.

The candidates residing in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Nagercoil and Tiruchy districts were allotted centres such as Ernakulam in Kerala. These centres were allotted even as a number of examination centres such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Namakkal, Madurai and Tirunelveli are situated close to where they live. 

Most of the candidates hail from rural areas in the state and many candidates are poor and their families may not be able to afford to spend money for travel and stay in Kerala. The petitioner has prayed to the court to quash the notice issued by CBSE dated April 18, 2018. He also sought for a direction to re-allot the examination centres, which are located near their place of residence, to the candidates hailing from Tamil Nadu.