SC Verdict: Tamil Nadu To Follow NEET Merit List

As the Supreme Court of India ordered the Tamil Nadu government to comply with the NEET merit, the rural students were dismayed. The NEET merit list is prepared to give admission to medical and dental courses in 2017. The stage government will begin the counseling, as per the NEET rank list, on August 24 (Thursday). Last week, the mystery over Tamil Nadu seeking to get exemption from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) had ended State Health Minister C Vijayabaskar voiced the State’s decision to pass an Ordinance that will exempt Tamil Nadu from the NEET for MBBS and BDS admissions to government medical colleges. Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday had said the Centre is set to cooperate with the State government for this one-time exemption. The Centre in Tuesday stated to the Court it did not wish to stand by the State Ordinance. Venugopal said the Ordinance would not stand any legal scrutiny.

Justice Dipak Misra ordered the State to complete the counselling by September 4 (Monday). Following this, the Directorate of Medical Education informed about the announcement of the NEET-based merit list on Wednesday and the commencement of counselling on August 24.

Keep in mind that the merit list would be made public on www.tnhealth.gov.in and counselling would be conducted at the Government Super Multi-Speciality Hospital at Omandurar Estate. There are 2,445 MBBS seats in twenty two government medical colleges, 127 seats in Rajah Muthiah Medical College and 858 government seats in 11 self-financing colleges,. In total there are 3,430 seats as per G Selvaraj, the selection committee secretary. Also, there are 85 BDS seats in Government Dental College, 68 in Rajah Muthiah Dental College and 1,045 government seats in self-financing colleges. This makes it up to 1,198 seats.

There are many who have been disappointed by the Supreme Court’s judgment. The educationists and doctors opined that the SC said admissions shouldn’t affect CBSE & State Board students; but the latter weren’t considered. PB Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System said SC had earlier stated that admissions should be conducted without affecting CBSE and State Board students. “The Centre didn’t respect the rights of Tamil Nadu. It denied Presidential consent for two NEET bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. It made the people wait till the last minute,” said GR Ravindranath, general secretary, DASE. He said the Centre should bring in an amendment to MCI Act to permanently exempt the State from NEET. “It’s an unfair judgment. The Centre which earlier said it was ready to consider a proposal for ordinance, has now said in the court that it was not considering the proposal. Thus, the Centre misguided Tamil Nadu.” Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE) said.