Judgment :-

Altamas Kabir, CJI.

1. In all these 115 matters, which include writ petitions filed in this Court and in different High Courts, which have been transferred to this Court for decision, the subject matter of challenge is a notification published on 27th December, 2010, being No. MCI-81(1)/2010-MED/49070 dated 21st December, 2010, issued by the Medical Council of India, notifying a National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to Post-Graduate Medical Courses conducted in colleges all across the country.

2. The challenge to the said notification gave rise to a wide range of submissions involving the competence of the Medical Council of India, constituted under Section 3 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, to introduce such a test which denudes the different medical colleges across the country from having any control over their entrance examinations and admissions on the basis thereof.

3. On 13th December, 2012, when the matters were taken up for consideration, we decided to post the matters for final hearing on 15th, 16th and 17th January, 2013, and allowed the respective entrance examinations, which had already been notified, to be held, while the hearing progr