CHENNAI: Ending a three-month-long impasse with the DMK government, Governor RN Ravi has forwarded the NEET Exemption Bill, passed by Tamil Nadu Assembly for a second time, to the Union Home Ministry to get the President’s assent.
“I am happy to inform the House that the Secretary to the Governor informed me this over the telephone. As the next phase of our struggle to get an exemption from NEET, I appeal to all to make further efforts in this regard to get the President’s assent for this Bill by exerting pressure on the Union government,” Chief Minister MK Stalin said in Assembly on Wednesday.
The NEET Bill passed by the Assembly on September 13, 2021, aims to ensure medical admissions in Tamil Nadu are done based solely on Plus Two marks and not on NEET score. The Governor kept that Bill pending for 142 days and returned it to the Speaker only after medical admissions for the current year had started.
While returning the Bill, the Governor referred to a Supreme Court judgment in favour of the NEET. “But the NEET Bill is about the sovereignty of the TN Assembly and its power to enact legislation echoing the feelings of the people of the State. That is why we seek the assent of the President for this Bill,” Stalin had reacted at the time.
As per a decision taken at the meeting of all legislature parties, chaired by the CM, the Bill was re-adopted by the Assembly on February 8 and sent to the Governor, who again took a long time to decide on it. Matters came to a head on Tamil New Year’s day when the Council of Ministers, led by the CM, and the DMK’s allies boycotted the Governor’s At-Home event.