Chennai, Feb 5 : Tamil Nadu BJP President K.Annamalai has asked Chief Minister M.K.Stalin to release the letter sent by Governor R.N.Ravi while returning the Bill seeking exemption from NEET for reconsideration.
Announcing that the party’s representative will not be attending the meeting called by Stalin on Saturday to discuss the next course of action, Annamalai said the BJP will extend its cooperation to the government for the welfare of the people and not for cheating them.
To a query raised under the Right to Information Act, the state government has said it does not have the details of students who had undergone private coaching class and cleared the NEET, he said.
The lack of data clearly doubts the credibility of the state government appointed A.K.Rajan committee’s report, Annamalai added.
Annamalai also wondered why Stalin is reluctant to share details of the students from government, government aided and private schools who have cleared the NEET in 2022.
Governor Ravi on February 1, 2022 had returned the Bill seeking exemption from NEET for the state to the Speaker for reconsideration of the Assembly calling it against the interest of the students.
The Bill was passed by the Assembly on September 13, 2021.
A statement issued by the Raj Bhavan said the Governor was of the opinion that the Bill is against the interests of the students, especially 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 reconsideration by the House,” the Raj Bhavan said.
According to the statement, Ravi came to the conclusion after a detailed study of the Bill for admission to Undergraduate Medical Courses seeking exemption from NEET, and the report of the committee constituted by the state government in this regard.
The committee’s report was the basis of the Bill. Ravi also examined the pre-NEET status of social justice in medical admissions especially for students coming from socially and economically poor backgrounds while arriving at his conclusion.
The Supreme Court in the Christian Medical College, Vellore Association Vs. Union of India (2020) case also comprehensively examined the issue specially from the social justice perspective and upheld NEET as it prevents economic exploitation of poor students and is in furtherance of social justice, the statement said. (IANS)