TN's NEET Assessment Decision: Madras High Court To Hear Political Parties, Pressure Groups & Experienced Citizens 'On Merits'

Hearing the plea challenging the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to ascertain whether the NEET-based admission process has prejudicially affected socially backward students, the Madras High Court today decided to hear from political parties to pressure groups to citizens having experience in the field.Stressing that the matter is of some importance, the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy today allowed all the applications filed seeking to be impleaded in the matter and decided to hear them on the merits.The Court also directed the Union Government to file its counter affidavit by July 8.This order comes with regard to a plea that has been filed by the General Secretary of the BJP, Tamil Nadu K. Nagarajan challenging the Tamil Nadu Govt's decision to constitute a high-level committee consisting of 9 persons under the chairmanship of a retired High Court Judge, Justice Thiru. A.K.Rajan.Nagarajan has claimed that in view of the Supreme Court's order in Kaaviyaa Nakkiran, and Ors. v. The State Of Tamil Nadu and the observation therein to the effect that "the State of Tamil Nadu shall not make any kind of distinction or discrimination between the examinations conducted by various Boards, and admissions shall be effected as per the result of the NEET examination", there can be little room for the State to set up any Committee.The plea before the CourtNagarajan has averred that the setting up of the Committee is an exercise in futility since any recommendation that such Committee may make cannot be implemented in the light of the view taken by the Supreme Court on NEET.The plea also states that the in case of Christian Medical College Vellore Association v. Union of India and Others (2020) 8 SCC 705, the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional validity of the introduction of NEET.The plea also submits that the Parliament has taken every aspect of the study into consideration and has introduced the Entrance Examination (NEET) concerning medical education at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels."The state government cannot tamper and politicize issues and create more confusion amongst the students. Most of them have already settled to undertake the course of study. The NEET examination is in vogue for the last 4 years", the plea further states.Further, stating that the constitution of a committee for undergoing a study is 'wholly reckless', the plea submits thus:"It is far beyond the competence of the state government to deal with the subject. It is pertinent to note that the committee has to be maintained by the state exchequer…The state administration is not expected to indulge in wasteful expenditures."The matter will now be heard next on July 5.It may be noted that the Committee has been formed to do the following:"The High-Level Committee will study whether National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test (NEET) based admission process has affected the socially backward students in the past few years. If it has affected them, then the committee will study the issues involved and suggest alternative admission procedures which should benefit all students, the feasibility of implementing such alternative admission procedures and the legal steps to be undertaken to implement such fair and equitable methods."Click Here To Download OrderRead Order

TN's NEET Assessment Decision: Madras High Court To Hear Political Parties, Pressure Groups & Experienced Citizens 'On Merits'

Sparsh Upadhyay

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