Lok Sabha adjourned till 12 noon amid uproar as oppn demands discussion on NEET

New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon on Friday amid an uproar in the House as the opposition demanded a discussion on the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the medical entrance exam NEET.

As soon as the House met, opposition members were on their feet seeking the acceptance of an adjournment motion to suspend all business and discuss matters related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

However, the Speaker said he would first take up the obituary references to 13 former members, including ex-Lok Sabha speaker and ex-Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi.

When the obituary references were over, the opposition members were on their feet again.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the NEET issue is very important for the whole country and they want a dedicated discussion in the House on it. Hence, the adjournment motion should be accepted, he said.

However, Speaker Om Birla said that he could not allow it as the House was about to take up the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on Thursday.

“You can raise all matters in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address. You will get enough time. But I can’t allow you to raise any other issue during the debate on the Motion of Thanks. It was already decided and mentioned in the bulletin too,” he said.

With the opposition insisting on the acceptance of the adjournment motion, Birla further said, “There will be no adjournment motion during the debate on the Motion of Thanks. You all are senior members and you all know that during the discussion on Motion of Thanks, no other issue is allowed.”

As the uproar continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12 noon.

The NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

This year’s examination was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test.

The demand for a probe was raised by a section of protesting students after several alleged irregularities came to light.

Soon after, the Education Ministry handed over the probe into the alleged irregularities to the CBI, which registered its first FIR on Sunday.

The CBI has so far registered six FIRs in the NEET paper leak case which include its own FIR on a reference from the Union Education Ministry and five from the states where it took over the probe — one case each from Bihar and Gujarat, and three cases from Rajasthan.

The CBI on Thursday made its first arrests in the case, taking two people into custody in Patna while three candidates who had allegedly solicited help in Gujarat recorded their statements, according to officials.