Shivangi Prakash-
Published on: September 8, 2021, at 11:05 IST
The Madras High Court ruled on Tuesday that a few days short of the required age does not have to be an impediment to an educated youngster seeking admission or taking tests like the NEET.
The current Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Krishnan Ramasamy made the statement, citing a Judgement of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court headed by Justice V Ramasubramanian in a similar case from 2019.
The Court, on the other hand, refused to let an underage girl take the NEET.
Originally, Shree Harini of Thanjavur district filed a High Court petition contesting the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) August 9 ruling denying to allow her to take the NEET exam, which was scheduled for Sunday, September 12.
A single Bench dismissed the plea, ordering the petitioner to attend to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore and submit to an IQ test, after which the petitioner may be allowed to sit for the NEET UG 2021 examination if she is eligible.
Aggrieved over the same, the instant appeal was filed by the NTA.
The current Bench, in allowing the case and overturning the Single Judge’s decision, noted that the girl was given a double promotion from 7th to 9th grade.
The petitioner was also allowed to sit for the 10th board exams before turning 14 years old, with no opposition from the CBSE, and she was even allowed to sit for the 12th board examination while she was under the age of 16.
“Therefore, when the girl had been permitted by the CBSE to complete her 12th board examination even before the age 16, we feel that there may be no justification on the part of the NTA to reject her request for age relaxation,” the Bench said.
This Court, however, cannot overturn the rule because it clearly provided a bar.
Allowing the writ petitioner to represent the NEET would open Pandora’s box, and the country’s courts would be inundated with similar claims.
Furthermore, except from claiming that the writ petitioner has a high IQ and that she performed in the cognitively superior range on all IQ tests, her senior counsel did not establish any other solid reason to take a different position in the case.
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