A 5-Judge bench of the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition filed by Centre & Medical Council of India (MCI) seeking review of its judgement scrapping the single common entrance test for medical courses. NEET was to have been conducted for admission to MBBS, BDS and postgraduate courses in all medical colleges. The 3-Judge bench headed by the then Chief Justice Altamas Kabir along with Justices A.R. Dave and Vikramajit Sen, had scrapped the common entrance test in Christian Medical College, Vellore v. Union of India, (2013) 14 SCC 539. Justice A.R. Dave had dissented against the majority view.
The review petitions had been placed before a 3-Judge bench and notices had been issued on 23-10-2013. It was brought to the notice of the review bench that matters in Modern Dental College and Research Centre v. State of Madhya Pradesh, C.A. No. 4060 of 2009 and connected matters had been referred to a 5-Judge bench. Therefore, the review petition came to be heard before this 5-Judge bench.
The 5-Judge bench held that the Christian Medical Centre, Vellore needed reconsideration and observed that the majority in Christian Medical College, Vellore had failed to notice binding precedents and that there had been no discussion amongst the members of that bench. [Medical Council of India v. Christian Medical College, Vellore, 2016 SCC OnLine SC 305 decided on 11-4-2016]
