New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea challenging a decision of the National Medical Commission (NMC) to not conduct NEET-Super Speciality examination in 2024.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Super Speciality (NEET-SS) can be taken by doctors having post-graduate degrees like MD, MS, and DNB, or an equivalent qualification for admission to super-speciality courses.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was told by a lawyer, appearing for 13 aspirants, that the NMC has decided to not hold the exam this year.

As per news reports, NEET-SS is likely to be conducted in January 2025.

While issuing notices to the Centre, Medical Counselling Committee and the NMC, the bench also gave liberty to petitioners Rahul Balwan and 12 others to make NBE (National Board of Examinations) a party to the petition and listed it for hearing on July 26.

Referring to an earlier judgement, the petitioners said NEET-SS has to be held every year and, moreover, the time schedule has already been fixed by the top court for admission to super-speciality courses.

The lawyer said the decision to postpone the exam this year apparently stemmed from the fact that there were delayed admissions to medical courses earlier due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

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New Delhi (PTI): A fire broke out in a residential building in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar early Sunday, leaving nine people belonging to two families dead, including a toddler, officials said.

The incident was reported around 3.48 am at a four-storey building in Vivek Vihar Phase-I, following which police, fire and disaster management teams rushed to the spot.

According to the police, the blaze engulfed flats on the second, third and fourth floors of the building, prompting a large-scale rescue operation.The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said nine charred bodies were recovered from different floors.

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"One body was recovered from the first floor, five from the second floor and three from the staircase which was found locked," the DFS officer said.

Those found dead on the second floor have been identified as Arvind Jain (60), his wife Anita Jain (58), son Nishant Jain (35), daughter-in-law Anchal Jain (33) and grandchild Akash Jain.

On the third floor, three members of a family were found dead. They were identified as Nitin Jain (50), wife Shailey Jain (48) and son Samyak Jain (25).

On the first floor a woman identified as Shikha Jain (45) was found dead while her husband Naveen Jain (48) sustained injuries.

A senior police officer said, "Around 10 to 15 people were rescued from the premises during the firefighting operation. Two of them, who sustained minor injuries, were shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital."

A total of 12 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, while teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), traffic police and local police assisted in the rescue and evacuation efforts.

Police said the fire was brought under control after several hours. Efforts are underway to determine the cause of the fire, police said.

Further investigation and proceedings are underway.