A section of students and parents readying a memorandum for submission at the Directorate of Medical Education office to lodge their dissent against the suspension of NEET for Tamil Nadu, on Monday in Chennai | P JAWAHAR
NEW DELHI, CHENNAI: The Union Home Ministry on Monday said it was examining a Tamil Nadu government Ordinance seeking exemption from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET score for undergraduate admissions to medical courses in the State for a year.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said, “We have received an Ordinance on NEET from Tamil Nadu and it is under consideration.”
A meeting was held in the Union Home Ministry on Monday to discuss the issue. Opinion is being sought from the Union ministries of health, human resource development and law and a final call will be taken soon, official sources said.
In Chennai, over 200 parents and students from the State Board and CBSE schools shared their concern with senior Supreme Court advocate Nalini Chidambaram on Monday regarding the proposed NEET exemption. She said she will file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on their behalf challenging the waiver.
“It is purely a political and commercial game,” said one of the parents, Ramesh Babu.
“They don’t care about the students. There are so many candidates who wasted one or two years to sit for NEET. We have given an appeal to the Health Secretary and Nalini Chidambaram said that she will file an affidavit in the SC.” Babu felt that the Ordinance should not be promulgated.
“If they were deciding on NEET exemption, they could have done it in the beginning itself,” Babu said. “Our children could have pursued medicine through the all-India quota under NEET and would have had better chance. Last year, too, the same thing happened and the State got exemption.” M S Jeyanthan, another parent, added that the least the candidates were expecting was release of the rank lists.
“Last year the Supreme Court said that this year NEET would be mandatory,” Jeyanathan explained.
“Following this, so many candidates wasted a year. All of a sudden the Central government is considering exemption from NEET. What about those students who took a break for a year?”
Taking cue from TN, Pondy postpones CENTAC counselling
Puducherry: The CENTAC counselling to fill 285 MBBS seats under management quota in various medical colleges in Puducherry was postponed on Monday following a direction from the territorial government. The process, scheduled from 11 am on Monday, was postponed without giving any fresh date. CENTAC co-ordinator Rudra Goud said that the counselling was postponed based on an order from the government. He further said that no reason was given by the government in its order.
Meanwhile, the sudden turn of events has given much inconvenience to students and parents.
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