The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to allow students to take the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test in Urdu, among other languages, from the 2018-2019 academic session. The apex court issued the directive while hearing an appeal on the matter by the Students Islamic Organisation of India, PTI reported.

A bench comprising justices Dipak Misra, AM Khanwilkar and MM Shantanagoudar told the petitioner that it would not be possible for the government to include Urdu in the NEET this year. The exam is scheduled for May 7. “We direct the Union of India to include Urdu as a language in the NEET from the academic session 2018-19 onwards,” the bench said.

The national exam, which allows students to take admission in medical courses, is currently held in 10 languages. These are: Hindi, English, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi and Kannada.

The Students Islamic Organisation of India had accused the Centre of being communal by not including Urdu as one of the languages for the test, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar had informed the Supreme Court on May 31.