national CET for MBBS admissions throughout the country...

MCI recommends national entrance test for MBBS

Four years after the Supreme Court reiterated the need for "admissions based on inter se merit" in professional colleges in the landmark
P A Inamdar case, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has recommended to the central government a national common entrance test (National CET) for admitting students
to the MBBS course across all categories of institutions.

A sub-committee of the MCI, which met in New Delhi last month, has after studying various court rulings on merit-based admissions recommended an amendment to the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997, to ensure that medical aspirants are admitted to all colleges, state-run or private, only on the basis of the performance in the proposed National CET.

The amendment proposed by the MCI reads: "In institutions of all India character including deemed universities, the institutions owned and managed by the central government, state government, universities, public sector undertakings, local self governments, trusts, charitable societies and all other organisations, admissions will be based upon the merit obtained at the competitive National CET conducted by an authority designed by the government of India." All other existing selection criteria would cease to exist.

Our report recommending the National CET was approved by the executive committee of the MCI. Since this entailed a policy change, the draft of the report was circulated to the members of the MCI general body as well for ratification. Presently, the recommendation has been forwarded to the union ministry of health and family welfare for approval. Under Section 33 of the Indian Medical Council Act, the MCI is empowered to amend the Regulations on Graduate
Medical Education with the prior approval of the central government," Dr Ved Prakash Mishra, convener of the MCI sub-committee for evolving the National CET told The Times of India on Sunday.