On Friday, The Supreme Court declared that students who appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-I) on May 1 would not be permitted to appear for the second phase of the common entrance exam scheduled for July 24.

“Those students who had appeared in NEET Phase-I shall not be permitted to appear in NEET Phase-II, but students who could not appear for NEET Phase-I may appear in NEET Phase-II,” a three-judge Bench, led by Justice Anil R. Dave, said in a short order released late in the evening.

The Bench agreed to give the Centre time till May 10 to hold discussions with States on exempting them from NEET.

MCI counsel and senior advocate Vikas Singh argued that the AIPMT syllabus was out since January 2016 and the NEET had merely replaced AIPMT on May 1 in name and not in syllabus. Secondly, Mr. Singh said AIPMT was considered a “gateway” to prestigious medical schools in the country, and it was highly unlikely that students would have taken it lightly.