CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday called on Governor RN Ravi and requested him to forward the Bill seeking to exempt Tamil Nadu from the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) to President Ram Nath Kovind immediately. The Bill which was passed by the state Assembly on September 13 has been pending with the Governor for the past two-and-a-half months.
Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan, Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and senior officials were present during the Chief Minister's meeting with the Governor.
The Chief Minister urged the Governor to forward the ‘Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act 2021,’ seeking exemption for Tamil Nadu from the NEET immediately to the President considering the impact the exam has caused in the admission of students to medical courses in Tamil Nadu.
The Bill introduced by Chief Minister MK Stalin seeks to dispense with the NEET and allow medical admissions based on the marks scored in the Plus Two examination and through normalisation methods.
Five years ago, during the previous AIADMK regime, two Bills were passed seeking to exempt NEET for Tamil Nadu. But the President did not give his assent to the Bills.
While introducing the Bill in the State Assembly, the Chief Minister said the Bill was legally more sound than the two Bills which were passed during the AIADMK regime.
He also recalled that the committee headed by retired Judge AK Rajan which studied the impact of NEET on medical admissions in Tamil Nadu had recommended that the state government may pass an Act, similar to that of the Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006 (Tamil Nadu Act 3 of 2007), indicating the need for elimination of NEET at all levels of medical education.
The Bill also said the move would ensure social justice, uphold equality and equal opportunity, protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated against, and bring them to the mainstream of medical and dental education, and in turn ensure robust public healthcare across the state particularly rural areas.