CET on schedule; government decision today on medical test

The Common Entrance Test (CET) will be held as scheduled on May 4 and 5 but it’s unclear if undergraduate medical and dental admissions will be determined through the exam in Karnataka.

A highly placed source in the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) said the CET would be held as scheduled but the state government was yet to decide whether it would determine medical and dental admissions, too.

Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil stuck to his stand of taking a decision on Saturday after consulting with department heads and other stakeholders when Deccan Herald contacted him on Friday.

Dr S S Harsoor, director, Medical Education, said a discussion was held on Friday about the implications of the SC ruling and a decision would be taken on Saturday.

The uncertainty is particularly glaring given that the first phase of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) takes place on Sunday, as per a Supreme Court ruling. On Thursday, the court had ruled that a single entrance test was enough to determine admission to MBBS and BDS courses in colleges across India.

On Friday, Andhra Pradesh went ahead with its own entrance exam called Andhra Pradesh Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test. Maharashtra too has decided to go ahead with its own CET scheduled for May 5. In Karnataka, a number of questions remain unanswered about NEET. Will a Karnataka merit list be drawn up or will there be only a national merit list? Can students who skip NEET-1 on Sunday take NEET-2 scheduled for July 24?  Dr Harsoor said the judgment only said that admitting authorities will invite applications and a merit list will be drawn from the all India rank list.

“So far as the merit list is concerned, we have been preparing two lists—national and state—for PG medical and dental students. Probably, the same thing may be followed,” he said.