CHENNAI: Taking a confrontational stance against the DMK government, Governor RN Ravi has returned the Bill seeking to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET after keeping it under consideration for over four-and-a-half months. It was sent back to Assembly Speaker M Appavu for reconsideration by the State Assembly on February 1.
The State government responded sharply on Thursday, stating Ravi’s views on the Bill are not acceptable, while, in Parliament, TN MPs demanded that the Governor be recalled immediately. Expressing his displeasure, Chief Minister MK Stalin referred to a famous quote of DMK founder CN Annadurai questioning the need for Governors.
The government has decided to pass the Bill again in the Assembly and send it back to the Governor. It has also convened a meeting of all legislature parties on Saturday to chalk out the next steps. Most political parties in the State have joined the DMK in condemning the Governor’s decision.
“The Governor is of the opinion that the Bill is against the students’ interests, especially the rural and economically poor students of the State. Hence, he has returned the Bill to the Speaker, giving detailed reasons, for its reconsideration by the House,” said a communication from the Raj Bhavan.
It added that the Governor studied the Bill, and the report of the high-level committee, on which it is based, in detail. Besides, the Governor examined the pre-NEET status of social justice in medical admission, especially for students from socially and economically poor backgrounds, it said.
In this connection, the Raj Bhavan communication referred to the Supreme Court verdict in the Christian Medical College, Vellore Association Vs. Union of India (2020) case. “The SC has comprehensively examined the issue especially from the social justice perspective and upheld NEET as it prevents economic exploitation of poor students and is in furtherance of social justice,” the Raj Bhavan said.
Taking to Twitter, Stalin referred to Annadurai’s quote: “Aattukku thaadiyum, naattukku governarum thevaiya?” (do goats need a goatee, and States a Governor?). “I am now pondering this question posed by Anna long ago,” he tweeted.
‘People of TN against NEET’
The State government, in a release, said the file for returning the NEET Bill was received from the Raj Bhavan on the evening of February 2 and forwarded to the Assembly Speaker on Thursday. There has been a strong view among the people of TN as well as others that NEET is against rural and poor students, and in favour of students from affluent backgrounds from urban areas, it said, adding that the Bill was passed by the Assembly based on the AK Rajan Committee’s report
‘State can file writ’
Asked whether the State can resend the Bill to the Governor, retired judge of Madras High Court K Chandru said there is no need to do so. “Instead, the State government can file a writ petition before a court of law challenging the Governor’s decision. Had the Governor taken this decision ahead of admission to the medical courses, the State government would have taken some other legal recourse,” he added.
‘No real concern’
Senior AIADMK leader and former law minister CVe Shanmugam alleged the DMK had no real concern over the scrapping of NEET and has been playing politics. “This is my personal view and not that of the AIADMK. After the introduction of the NEET, only six students from government schools got medical seats. When there was no NEET, only 52 students from government schools got medical admission. But after the 7.5 per cent reservation, the number has risen to 537 now. If the NEET goes, this quota will also go,” he said.
‘Against students’
“The Governor is of the opinion that the Bill is against the students’ interests, especially the rural and economically poor students,” the Raj Bhavan said