New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with operation of the ordinance providing that states could hold their own entrance examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses by passing the National Eligibility Entrance Entrance Test (NEET).

Refusing to stay the operation of the ordinance as 50 per cent of the states have already conducted their own entrance examination for admission to government colleges, a bench of Justice Anil R.Dave, Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, however said: “Prima facie we find that the validity of the ordinance is open to doubt.”

NGO Sankalp had moved the top court seeking the stay of the ordinance contending that it was it was a patent exercise of judicial power in the garb of ordinance to put the the court decision on hold for one year. The bench however, made hard hitting observations against the centre for promulgating the ordinance.

On 25 May, President Pranab Mukherjee signed an ordinance declaring seats in state government medical colleges and government seats in private medical colleges would not be alloted on the basis of the NEET this year. This bypassed the Supreme Court ruling that admission to medical colleges would be solely on the basis of NEET. The ruling refused to exempt state government medical colleges from NEET this year.