Ranchi, April 29: The Supreme Court, which yesterday approved a countrywide entrance test for medical and dental courses for this 2016-17 academic session in two phases, May 1 and July 24, junking the clutch of state and private etnrance exams, has thrown Jharkhand in a tizzy.

State health department sources are worried that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for entrance to MBBS and BDS courses this year, conducted by the CBSE, would prove tough for many ST aspirants, leading to many reserved seats staying vacant.

Also, Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECE), which last month floated an advertisement announcing June 12 as the date of the state medical entrance test and May 16 as the last day to fill the application forms, is also clueless, as it has no role to play now.

On why the state health department is fearing many empty ST seats, an official said in 2014, when the MBBS entrance test for the state was held via the CBSE's All-India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT), as many as 53 of the 76 seats reserved for ST students were vacant as they could not qualify. In contrast, in 2015, when Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECE) conducted the MBBS entrance exam in the state, there were no vacancies.

In August 2014, when it became apparent that 53 ST seats were vacant, then chief minister Hemant Soren had requested the Union minister of health and family welfare to relax the prescribed minimum marks obtained by ST candidates in the entrance exam to pave their way for admission to MBBS and BDS courses. But, the Union ministry had turned it down.

"In a letter to the secretary of health department, the under-secretary of the Union health ministry said there was no provision to relax qualifying marks for any category by the central government or the Medical Council of India (MCI)," a senior health department official told The Telegraph.

"The letter highlighted the clause (5) of the MCI regulations on graduate medical education 1997 which says that in the competitive entrance examination a candidate must pass in physics, chemistry, biology and English individually and must obtain 50 per cent marks taken together in physics, chemistry and biology and be placed in the merit list according to results. For ST candidates, the requirement is 40 per cent," the health department source added.

But, health department officials are hoping the qualifying criteria for ST candidates would be relaxed.

Sudhir Kumar Ranjan, joint secretary of Jharkhand health department said: "Not only Jharkhand, I am sure many other states, especially in the Northeast, will be equally affected by this development (national common entrance test). As of now, the old letter will act as our guiding principle unless the apex court gives fresh orders on reserved seats. We are keeping fingers crossed for a relaxation in qualifying marks for reserved seats."

On what the state board would do now, a JCECE official said: "We have asked the health department today on whether to continue accepting applications or stop."

NEET-1 would be held on May 1, earlier scheduled by the CBSE as the AIPMT, while NEET-2 on July 24 for candidates who had not applied for the AIPMT and planned to appear in entrance exams of state and private institutes.