Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has returned the Bill passed by the Legislative Assembly negating the National Eligibility and Entrance Examination (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical and dental science courses in the State. A release issued by Raj Bhavan on Thursday said the Governor after a perusal of the Bill found it not in tune with the interests of the students and was sending it back to the Government of Tamil Nadu for reconsideration.
“The Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu, after detailed study of the L.A. Bill No.43 of 2021 for admission to Undergraduate Medical Courses seeking exemption from NEET, and the Report of the High Level Committee constituted by the State Government in this regard which is the basis for the Bill and also examining the pre-NEET status of social justice in Medical admission especially for students coming from socially and economically poor background, is of the opinion that the Bill is against interests of the students specially the rural and economically poor students of the State. Hence, the Hon’ble Governor has returned the Bill to the Hon’ble Speaker, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on February 01, 2022, giving detailed reasons, for its re-consideration by the House,” said the Raj Bhavan release.
The release further said that the Supreme Court in Christian Medical College, Vellore Association Vs. Union of India (2020) also has comprehensively examined the issue specially from the Social Justice perspective and upheld NEET as it prevents economic exploitation of poor students and was in furtherance of social justice.
The announcement came within hours of R S Bharati, the DMK MP lambasted the Governor in Rajya Sabha. “Our former chief minister C N Annadurai has pointed out the irrelevance of the post of the Governor stating that a goat does not need beard and similarly there was no need of Governors,” said Bharati taunting the Governor for sitting over the Bill for months.
Though Tamil Nadu has been demanding that the State be exempted from NEET, Nalini Chidambaram, (wife of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram) , who is representing the students in a case in the apex court had told the media that there was no question of exempting Tamil Nadu from the purview of the legislation. “While all other States in the country are for NEET, how Tamil Nadu alone can claim exception from the same,” Nalini Chidambaram asked reporters.