Chennai: A day after Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi returned the MK Stalin-led DMK government's bill seeking an exemption to the Tamil Nadu medical students from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET), the state government has planned an all-party meeting on Saturday, February 5 to chalk out the future course of action over the matter.
The Tamil Nadu government had on September 13 sent a legal draft to the governor for getting permission from the President of India to annul NEET in the state suggesting that the admissions be made on the basis of Class 12 score. Chief Minister M K Stalin also personally met the governor and requested him to do the needful.
However, the governor while returning the draft on Thursday and argued that the bill “goes against the interests of rural students”. "The governor, after a detailed study of the L.A.Bill No.43 of 2021 for admission to Undergraduate Medical Courses seeking exemption from NEET, and the Report of the High-Level Committee constituted by the State Government in this regard, is of the opinion that the Bill is against interests of the students especially the rural and economically poor students of the State," a Tamil Nadu Raj Bhawan release read. It further referred to the Supreme Court judgment in Christian Medical College, Vellore Association Vs. Union of India (2020) also comprehensively examined the issue especially from the social justice perspective and upheld NEET as it “prevents economic exploitation of poor students and was in furtherance of social justice”.
Following the governor's refusal to annul NEET, the state government said it will “take all the possible actions”.
“For discussing the next step regarding this, an all-party gathering has been planned on Feb.5 at 11 am and the government has planned to invite all party leaders for this meeting,” a government spokesperson said.
Also read: DMK mouthpiece hits out at TN Governor over NEET remarks
