The Supreme Court, on Monday, stayed or set aside its previous order as per which the minimum marks for admission to BDS courses in 2020-21 was not to be lowered. This judgement has resulted in a lowering of NEET cutoff for admission to BDS 2020-21 programs by 10 percentile.
A bench of Justices L N Rao and Krishna Murari stated – “We set aside the decision of the first Respondent dated December 30, 2020, to not reduce the minimum marks for admission to BDS course as it suffers from the vices of illegality and irrationality.”
Further, the judgment read, “We direct that the vacant seats in the first year BDS course for the year 2020-2021 shall be filled up from the candidates who have participated in the NEET (UG) courses for the year 2020-2021 after lowering the percentile mark by 10 percentile.”
Note:
- In the current academic year, there are close to 7,000 seats available for admissions to the 1st year BDS course. The examination for admission to first year BDS courses was held on 13 September 2020.
- The Supreme Court has specified that the BDS 2020-21 admissions shall be made strictly in accordance with merit
- The BDS 2020-21 admission process will conclude by 18 February 2021
Who all are eligible for admission in first year BDS 2020-21 courses?
General Category and General PwD Candidates
- As per the revised cutoff, General category candidates who have secured 40 percentile shall be eligible to be considered for admissions in BDS courses for the academic year 2020-21.
- The order further stated – “General candidates with bench mark disabilities specified under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, would be eligible if they have secured 35 percentile”
SC/ST/OBC Category Students
- The top court has specified that students belonging to the SC/ST/OBC categories shall be declared qualified for BDS admissions if they have secured 30 percentile.
The judgement also said that “any other student who has qualified in NEET(UG)-2020 exam even without lowering the minimum marks and is willing to participate in the admission process would also be considered for admission to BDS course”.
DIRECT LINK FOR SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON NEET BDS CUTOFF 2020
Reduce Fee to Encourage Students to Join Dental Colleges, says Supreme Court
In order to encourage more students to participate in BDS admissions, the Supreme Court has also directed private dental colleges in the country to consider lowering the fee charged by them. The SC judgement stated – “Only 265 out of 7,000 seats are vacant in government colleges. All the other unfilled seats are in private Dental colleges. The Managements of private Dental Colleges shall consider reducing the fee charged by them to encourage students to join the Colleges. ”
