NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs will separately examine two key Bills passed by Tamil Nadu Assembly exempting the State from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for enrolment of students for medical and dental courses. Although, State representative did not attend the meeting held earlier this month at North Block to review pending state Bills under south zone, the State and Central ministers are involved in hectic backroom negotiations to push for Presidential assent to the pending Bills.
Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 25, seeking an interim solution on the issue for this academic year. Meanwhile, Health Ministry and Human Resource Development Ministry have intensified internal discussions over the issue with the Home Ministry to clear the pending Bills from the state.
The Tamil Nadu Admissions to Post Graduate Courses in Medicine and Dentistry Bill, 2017, and the Tamil Nadu Admissions to MBBS and BDS Courses Bill, 2017, were unanimously cleared by the State Legislative Assembly in February. Since then, the state government has been requesting the Centre for expeditious Presidential assent. The Home Ministry also needs to review the Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, that was cleared by the State Assembly in 2014.
The minutes of meeting accessed by Express showed that the pending Bills from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala would be processed soon. The Centre has sought clarification from Karnataka government on the amendment in Goondas Act, bringing sexual offences under the purview of the original Act.
The Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Slum-grabbers and Video or Audio Pirates (Amendment) Bill, 2014, allows the law enforcement agencies to arrest an accused without a warrant. The Centre wants Karnataka to confine the term ‘Depredator of Environment’ in the Act.
“The Government of Karnataka stated that it would furnish its clarifications on comments of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. As the meaning of the term ‘Depredator of Environment’ is very wide, a suitable term in place of it should be suggested by the State to confine its meaning to the object of the Bill,” the Home Ministry note said.
Karnataka government has also been told to suggest modification in certain provisions of Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation During Emergency Situation) Bill, 2016, before it is forwarded for the Presidential assent. Ministry of Labour has submitted its comments in the meeting on the Minimum Wages (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2017, which is likely to be processed soon.
The Department of Official Language and the Department of School Education and Literacy has asked certain clarifications from Kerala government on the Malayalam Language (Dissemination and Enrichment) Bill, 2015. However, another bill from the State - Industrial Disputes (Kerala Amendment) Bill, 2017 - was discussed with Ministry of Labour and would be processed soon.