New Delhi, Mar 7: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the Centre's position on a petition challenging the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Appearing before the bench, Attorney General KK Venugopal Rao said no such mandate was given to the CBSE by the government.

"Centre has not authorised CBSE to make Aadhaar card a mandatory ID for NEET examinations," the AG said.

The petition, filed by a Gujarat resident Abida Ali Patel, said the decision was bound to adversely impact the students who do not possess the unique identification number. Patel further cited the pending petitions before the top court which have challenged the legality of Aadhaar.

The NEET examinations, mandatory for all students across the nation for seeking admission in undergraduate medical and dental courses, is scheduled to begin from May 6.

In February, the CBSE - which is the nodal authority to conduct the exams -said candidates without Aadhaar would be barred from appearing for the examinations.

The mandatory Aadhaar rule will apply on all NEET candidates, except those residing in Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir, the board had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 07, 2018 04:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).