SC issues notices to center, MCI over inclusion of Urdu as medium in NEET

The next hearing will be on Mar 10, said Ravinder S Garia.

A bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R Banumathi said while taking note of the petition filed by Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), issued notice to center and MCI.

The bench also noted the submission that MCI was open to include any language as a medium of National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) if a request was made to it by states concerned.

Besides the Centre and MCI, the court also issued notices to Dental Council of India (DCI) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and fixed the plea for further hearing on March 10.

Advocate Ravinder S Garia on behalf of SIO informed the court that Maharashtra and Telangana have already apprised the MCI that Urdu be included as one of the medium for conducting NEET.

In terms of number of people speaking a language Urdu ranks Sixth in India as the per the Census report. Also, Urdu is one the languages listed in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution. A large number of students study science in Urdu Medium for their Eleventh and 12th Class Exams. N.C.E.R.T text books for Eleventh and 12th class are available in Urdu, when such text books are not available in several other languages such as Kannada.

Earlier, the apex court had refused to give urgent hearing to the petition, filed by SIO, alleging that exclusion of Urdu as one of the languages in NEET exam to be held on May 7 was "arbitrary and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution".

"The decision to exclude Urdu was discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution," it said.