The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court against the President of India's withholding of assent for the NEET exemption bill passed by the state assembly.
It sought a direction to hold and declare that the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021, is deemed to have received the assent of the President of India under Article 254(2) of the Constitution of India.
The TN government in its plea alleged that the President has withheld assent to the bill, which was communicated by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to the Governor of Tamil Nadu. In turn, the Governor of Tamil Nadu conveyed the communication to the state government.
The petition sought to declare the action of the President in withholding assent to the bill, as communicated by the Secretary to the Governor of Tamil Nadu vide letter dated 04.03.2025 pursuant to the letter of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, as patently unconstitutional, illegal and liable to be set aside.
It further sought to direct the defendants to forthwith place the bill before the President under Article 201 and 254(2) of the Constitution for fresh consideration and granting assent under Article 254(2).
The plea is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court within a week, as per the SC registry and a senior official of the SC.
“Examination is something quite different from education, but in the name of raising the standard of education, they are making the examinations so impossible and so severe that the backward communities which have hitherto not had the chance of entering the portals of universities are absolutely kept out," said the plea of the TN government.
"The present original suit arose out of this grave constitutional impasse created by the President of India by withholding assent to The Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021," it added.
The state government further clarified that the bill had been unanimously passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and forwarded for Presidential consideration by the Governor under Article 201 of the Constitution.
"The impugned action, communicated through the Governor’s Secretariat on 04.03.2025, was taken mechanically on the aid and advice of the Union government, without assigning any reasons, despite detailed replies furnished by the state to every objection and clarification raised by the Union ministries," it said.
The present suit raises substantial questions of law as to interpretation of the Constitution relating to the state’s legislative autonomy, constitutional federalism, the scope of Article 201, Article 254(2), and the state’s primary duty under Article 47 to safeguard public health by ensuring equitable access to medical education, the plea stated.
"Since independence, the plaintiff state has evolved its own system of admissions to professional courses that has been carefully designed to have high standards and to reflect the social realities of the state. Historically, the plaintiff state of Tamil Nadu introduced a Common Entrance Test (CET) for engineering and medical admissions, but found it disproportionately harmful to students from rural and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. However, acting on the recommendations of the Dr. Anandakrishnan Committee, the state abolished CET and enacted The Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006 (Tamil Nadu Act 3 of 2007)," the TN government said.