PATNA: The Patna high court on Wednesday set aside the Union ministry of AYUSH order and allowed the colleges to take admission in Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) course even without National Eligibly cum Entrance Test (NEET).AYUSH is the acronym of Ayurvedic, Yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy The decision by the bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh would have wider ramifications across the country.The ministry through a letter on February 12 this year had directed all the state governments to allow admission for various courses, including BUMS, on the basis of NEET only. Accordingly, Bihar government issued a letter on March 23. But, by then, the last date for submission of NEET application (March 9) was already over. On that basis, the association of Bihar Private Unani Medical Colleges challenged the ministry’s order.Petitioner’s counsel Abhinav Srivastava and Raushan argued that the Central Council for Indian Medicine, the regulatory body, framed regulations with respect to admission in AYUSH colleges in 2016 and did not make NEET mandatory for admission in BUMS course. The court agreed that unless the council amended the regulations making NEET mandatory, the ministry could not impose such condition by its executive order.The court had asked the central government to reply on the issue. The Centre’s reply, however, failed to satisfy the court, which quashed the ministry’s order.

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