Can MCI prescribe upper age limit in absence of regulation, asks SC

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 27

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) to clarify if it had power to fix an upper age limit of 25 years for admission to MBBS/BDS course in the absence of any regulation to that effect.

A bench headed by Justice Dipal Misra asked senior counsel Vikas Singh representing the MCI to spell out the council’s position and posted the matter for further hearing on March 20.

The bench also said the benefit of the outcome of the litigation, if at all it was decided in favour of petitioners, will go only to those petitioners who approached courts before the last date of submitting their forms for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

Maintaining that the regulation was pending with the Central government, Singh contended that even in the absence of a regulation, such a decision could be taken by an executive order. He sought to defend the stipulation of age limit, saying the upper age limit for Combined Legal Aptitude Test (CLAT) for admission to five-year law courses was only 22 while for admission to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) it was 25.

There are approximately 63,835 seats in MBBS and 27,000 seats in BDS available in various government and private medical colleges across India. On an average, 7 to 7.5 lakh students compete every year for these seats for MBBS and BDS courses.

Prior to January 31, 2017, there was no upper age limit to compete for admission to these courses through NEET. This year’s application forms are already out and the examination is scheduled to be held on May 7.

Earlier this month, the top court had issued notice to the MCI and the Centre on a petition filed by Sabyasachi Rai who contended that since the authorities had already fixed three attempts for a medical aspirant, there was no need to fix an upper age limit at 25 years.

Last week, MCI had defended its regulation stipulating an upper age limit of 25 years with a maximum three attempts for admission to MBBS/BDS course, saying study of medicine required “sharp young minds”.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the MCI said: “It is unfair to make a young student giving the NEET examination for the first time to compete with a much older student who had more time to prepare and had already given several attempts.”

The affidavit has been filed in response to a petition challenging the age criteria for NEET for undergraduate medical and dental courses. The regulation that came into force from this year also restricted the maximum attempts at three.

The MCI said, “Age is a major factor in determining the capability of the student to learn…the study of medicine requires rigorous study and training imparted during the MBBS/BDS course and, therefore, sharp young minds are required to absorb the same. This is the reason that most Countries in the world prefer only young students in professional courses e.g. medicine, engineering etc.”

It said: “A young student pursuing studies in MBBS/BDS course will be able to grasp the teaching and training imparted in the medical colleges with more ease and efficiency. Hence, it is imperative that these young students are given the maximum opportunity to make the most out of the teaching and training imparted in the medical college and to enable them to develop skills which would help them in becoming great doctors.”