The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday clarified that appearance by candidates in the AIPMT/NEET prior to 2017 will not be taken into account and as such NEET-2017 will be counted as their first attempt.
The CBSE had earlier announced that aspirants who have already thrice attempted AIPMT and NEET 2016 were ineligible to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2017.
The CBSE's announcement on Monday created a lot of hue and cry among the aspirants.
"The Department of Health and Family Welfare on February 3 has communicated that the Medical Council of India (MCI) has clarified that the attempts made by candidates for AIPMT/NEET prior to 2017 should not be counted," the CBSE said in a statement.
"And accordingly appearance in NEET-2017 will be counted as first attempt for all the candidates, irrespective of their previous attempts in AIPMT/NEET," read the statement.
"Changes have been effected by CBSE accordingly in the online application. All candidates who could not fill up the application form due to the condition of three attempts at AIPMT/NEET will now be able to fill up their application form," it added.
The NEET 2017 for admission to MBBS/BDS courses in medical/dental colleges run with the approval of MCI/Dental Council of India will be conducted on May 7, 2017 across 80 cities.
The CBSE has started the online application process from Tuesday and it will continue till March 1, 2017.