Former Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir, died on Sunday, February 19, at a private hospital in Kolkata after fighting a prolonged illness. Kabir was born on July 19, 1948 in Kolkata and was part of the Calcutta High Court as a judge from 1990. In the year 2005, he was elevated as Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court and then as a judge in the Supreme Court. He became the Chief Justice of India on September 29, 2012. One of the most controversial judgments of his career came at the end of it, on July 18, 2013, when he along with Justice Vikramajit Sen ordered the banishing of NEET as the single common examination conducted in the country.

Altamas Kabir was one of the three judges responsible for the judgment in the case of Christian Medical College, Vellor & Others versus Union of India and Others in 2013. Justice Anil R Dave was the third judge in the bench constituted for judgment. Altamas Kabir, being the Chief Justice of India and forming the majority with Justice Vikramjit Sen, struck down NEET, which was notified to become the single entrance examination for admission to post-graduate medical courses conducted in colleges across the country on December 27, 2010 by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Later admission to MBBS and BDS courses were also moved under the ambit of NEET and the apex court ordered the various examination authorities which had already notified about their examination to go ahead with their process. But, the authorities were advised not to release the results of the examination or admit students until the court passed its judgment. The judgment got further delayed and Kabir was of the view that scrapping other entrance tests and imposing NEET will mean a loss of a year for many, for no fault of theirs. Hence, the three judges bench gave an order to allow the result of the examination already conducted to be declared and take admission based on that for the current year on May 13, 2013. This was the last judgment passed by Altamas Kabir before he retired from his post on July 18.

Justice A R Dave was not happy with the judgment and put up a 35-page dissent in which he argued that ‘justice hurried is justice buried’. He mentioned in his letter, ‘Introduction of the NEET would ensure more transparency and less hardship to the students eager to join the medical profession. A student, who is good at studies and is keen to join the medical profession, will have to visit several different states to appear for different examinations held by different medical colleges or institutes so as to ensure that he gets admission somewhere.’

Years later, on April 28, 2016, Justice A R Dave headed a three judges bench, which was reviewing the order passed in 2013 by Altamas Kabir. In their judgment, NEET was made compulsory for admission of candidates in MBBS and BDS courses across the country.

NEET 2017 is scheduled to take place on May 7, for which applications close on March 1.