CHENNAI: The meeting of the legislature parties in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday unanimously decided that the state would continue its legal battle to get an exemption from the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET).
This would include intensifying the pursuit of the plea already filed before the Supreme Court in 2023 against NEET and, if needed, the filing of a fresh petition before the SC to challenge the recent withholding of assent by the President to the NEET-exemption Bill adopted by the TN Assembly. The resolution, moved by Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, said further efforts would be taken after consultation with legal experts.
The principal opposition — the AIADMK, its ally Puratchi Bharatham and the BJP — boycotted the meeting.
‘CBI is probing plaints from several states on unfair conduct of NEET’
Chief Minister M K Stalin, in his inaugural address, detailed how the DMK government has been striving for the past four years to get an exemption from NEET through legal means, but the union government had refused to provide assent to the Bill seeking exemption.
“NEET is not something that cannot be done away with. The union government is being misled to conduct this examination by certain people to serve their selfish interests. Also, the CBI is investigating complaints from several states regarding unfair conduct of the exam,” the CM added.
Later, on X, he posted, “The governor, acting as a puppet of the union government, remained a stumbling block to the Bill we adopted. But in the light of the SC verdict yesterday (regarding the 10 Bills re-adopted by the state Assembly), we will be continuing our legal battle until justice is done!”
In a veiled attack on the AIADMK, he said the people of the TN had clearly understood the intention of those finding fault with the government and said TN will win the fight to eliminate NEET.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the representatives of the legislative parties who participated in the meeting spoke in detail about the irregularities and problems linked to NEET. They promised to support all legal steps to be taken by the state government in this regard, he added.
Law Minister S Regupathy said that the union government has exempted JIPMER and AIIMS from the NEET but refuses to do the same for TN. “Don’t subject the students of TN to hardships. Those who became doctors after studying in government schools are performing at the highest level in the medical field at the national and international level,” Regupathy said.
He pointed out how the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG was reduced to zero across all categories last year, resulting in severe flak. He added that the leaders at the meeting demanded the subject of education be brought back to the State List from the Concurrent List.
On AIADMK’s decision to boycott the meeting, Regupathy said, “The AIADMK is not bothered about NEET exemption since the party is keen on forging an alliance with the BJP.” The health minister said since NEET was introduced because of them (the AIADMK and BJP), they might feel hesitant to seek an exemption from the exam.
DMK, Congress, CPM, CPI, PMK, MDMK, VCK, MMK, TVK, and KMDK representatives attended the meeting.
