Shiva Kirti Singh

The Supreme Court today expressed doubt over validity of the ordinance providing that states could hold their own entrance examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses for the current academic year bypassing the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) but refused to interfere with its operation.

The Supreme Court was moved on Thursday, challenging the NEET ordinance exempting Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab for this year from the ambit of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges.

At 11:15 am today, the Supreme Court began its proceedings for the last day of the current term. It was 45 minutes behind its usual schedule.

Prashant Bhushan, acting for the NGO Angel Trust, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court that more stringent punishments should be levied against those convicted of cruelty against animals, particularly in the pet shops industry.

As the Supreme Court's three-Judge bench comprising justices Anil R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and Adarsh Kumar Goel, began hearing the NEET case on 6 May at 2 pm at the packed Court No 2, senior advocates, Vikas Singh and Rajeev Dhavan made brief submissions first.

The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to prove his legislative majority in the state assembly on Tuesday, but nine disqualified rebel Congress legislators won't be allowed to vote.

The top court said it would monitor the voting that is to take place at 11 a.m. The entire proceedings of the house will be videographed, the court said.

The two-judge division bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh also ordered that President's Rule in the hill state will be kept in abeyance from 10.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the house proceedings.

The order came after the central government informed the court that it was ready to conduct a floor test in Uttarakhand only if it is done under the top court's supervision.

"There should be one agenda (for the short session in the assembly). It should only be a test of strength between the two political alliances in the assembly," Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court, appearing for the central government.

Rohatgi told reporters that the voting record and the videographed proceeding would be handed over to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Uttarakhand has been under President's Rule since 27 March after the central government dismissed the Congress government led by Rawat, citing constitutional crisis in the hill state.

The central government invoked the controversial Article 356 to remove Rawat saying his government was in minority after nine Congress legislators rebelled.

President's Rule was lifted for a few hours in the state following an Uttarakhand High Court order on 21 April. It was reimposed by the Supreme Court a day later.

Uttarakhand was plunged into political crisis after nine Congress legislators, including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, whom Rawat replaced, rebelled and turned to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The crisis peaked on 18 March when the assembly passed a finance bill by voice vote even as the opposition, backed by the rebel Congress members, demanded recorded voting. The BJP cried foul after Speaker Govind Kunjwal declined.

Rawat was then asked by Governor KK Paul to prove his majority on 28 March. Two days ahead of the voting, Speaker Kunjwal disqualified the Congress rebels.

In the 70-member house, the Congress has 27 legislators, excluding the rebels who won't be allowed to take part in the trust vote on Tuesday. The BJP has 28 members. There are six from other parties who have earlier voiced their support for the Congress government.

Rawat would need at least 32 members to support him in the house whose strength has been reduced to 61 after the disqualification of nine members.

Disqualified "rightly or wrongly", the Supreme Court said, the nine Congress members cannot vote in Tuesday's floor test.

As the hearing of the state Governments in the ongoing NEET [National Eligibility cum Entrance Test] case began this afternoon at Court 2, the Additional Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, who is the counsel for the Gujarat Government, was the first one to argue.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Medical Council of India to respond to a batch of applications by various state governments and associations of private medical colleges seeking to hold their own separate examinations for admission to undergraduate medical courses.

The Supreme Court is likely to hear later on Friday the centre's suggestion to hold NEET in one go - on 24 July - as it would be difficult for students not proficient in English to appear in the exam.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said students aspiring for admission to under-graduate medical courses will have to appear in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).

In a revelation which may shock many, the Solicitor General, Ranjit Kumar told the Supreme Court’s three-Judge bench hearing the black money investigation case this afternoon at Court No 2, that nothing survived in this case, and the court could dispose it of.

Taking a dig at Maharashtra government over its persistence to curb dance bars, the Supreme Court on Monday said that it was better to dance then go to streets for begging or going to “places which are not acceptable” to earn a livelihood.

Maverick lawyer from Mumbai, Mathews J Nedumpara, had two of his writ petitions listed before two different benches at courts 3 and 4 on Wednesday, 13 April.

The Supreme Court’s constitution bench hearing on the sharing of river water through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, took an interesting turn this afternoon with Punjab’s counsel, senior advocate, Ram Jethmalani, making a strong pitch for the return of the Presidential reference on the issue unanswered.

The Delhi Judicial Service (DJS) recruitment committee will interview, within four weeks, the 12 new candidates who crossed the exam’s cut-off marks on a re-evaluation. The re-evaluation was part of a judicial inquiry on fairness in the conduct of the DJS 2014.

The Delhi Judicial Service (DJS) 2014 exam’s results were turned on their head by retired Supreme Court judge PV Reddy’s committee, after almost all of the top 200-ranked candidates’ marks in the exam increased on re-evaluation.