Despite the Supreme Court approval to hold a common medical entrance test, the health ministry is said to believe that it was too late for a new notification to be issued for a common test this year. While MBBS entrance test for the Aligarh Muslim University is already over, a number of medical entrance tests are already scheduled for the next couple of months. "The notification for the common test has to be out by December. It is too late to start the process now. Some entrance tests have already happened and others are due very soon. The CBSE PMT is happening on May 1. So, this year's process will have to go on as scheduled. We have been told that this matter will be disposed of well in time for next year's examination process to be initiated. We will wait for that. Meanwhile, the amendments to the MCI Act that we have started will continue parallel to these hearings unless the court ruling mandates otherwise," said an official in the Ministry of Health. The SC on Monday quashed its earlier ruling saying that the Medical Council of India (MCI) was not mandated to hold a common entrance test. It accepted the Centre's review petition while also making it clear that for this year a common test can be conducted without getting into the question of who would be the competent authority to do so. The ministry is going ahead with the process of amending the MCI Act to empower the medical education regulator to conduct the common entrance test. While the law ministry has already given its in-principle approval for the amendment, the health ministry is now awaiting the HRD ministry's opinion on it. The health ministry is planning amendments to restructure the MCI's role as per the PMO's instructions. The government wants the MCI to have separate wings to deal with curriculum and medical education standards