Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Supreme Court order on NEET will inconvenience students this year.
Hours after the Supreme Court green flagged a single entrance exam for admission to medical colleges anywhere in the country, the Maharashtra government said it would appeal against the order since it may inconvenience a large number of students this year.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted:
His colleague in BJP and Union Health Minister JP Nadda, however, had welcomed the Supreme Court decision, calling it a "milestone judgment". "Despite the challenges to conduct the exam this year, the Ministry is geared to work with other partners and stakeholders to ensure that the entrance exams are successfully held," he had added.
The first phase of NEET will be held on May 1, the second on July 24.
The top court has allowed the Central Board of Secondary Education and Medical Council of India to conduct the NEET -- National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test -- for MBBS and post graduate programmes. It will become the entry point for any student seeking admission to a medical college anywhere in India.
The NEET exams will now be held in two phases. The first phase will take place on May 1 for those who applied for the All India Pre-Medical Test or AIPMT. Those who hadn't, can take the exam in the second phase on July 24. The results will out latest by August 17.
Till now, private colleges and states were holding their own tests and imposing their own criteria on students, who, in absence of a common entrance test, had to make multiple applications and take scores of tests.
This has led to large number of complaints of corruption in the admission process. The new ruling from the top court is expected to end the controversy.
Dr Major Gulshan Garg from the non-profit Sankalp Charitable Trust, which petitioned the court, said students had to spend around Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000 just to apply to colleges, then pay lakhs as capitation fees. "All that will stop now," he said.
An estimated 9 lakh students appeared for 50,000 medical seats in 600 government and private collages last year.