May 06 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)

 

TN Act exempts students from taking NEET





Even as the Tamil Nadu government is seen to be taking up with the Centre the issue of President's consent to two NEET bills exempting students in the state from taking entrance test for medical and dental admissions, the presidential secretariat has said no such bills ordinances it had received .

 

In response to a letter from CPM Rajya Sabha member T K Rangarajan, officer on special duty in the President's secretariat A Rai said: “The letter has been forwarded to the ministry of home affairs for appropriate attention as no such billsordinances have been received so far for the assent from the president in this secretariat.“ Rangarajan had written a letter to the President on April 14 seeking his assent for the two bills passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly in February this year.

When contacted, Tamil Nadu health secretary J Radhakrishnan told TOI that it was as per procedure. “Bills passed by states and requiring Presidential assent is routed through the home ministry and the law ministry . There is nothing unusual about this,“ he said. The Tamil Nadu Admission To MBBS and BDS Course Act, 2017 exempts students from the state from taking NEET for admission to medical and dental colleges across the country.
The other bill seeks to admit students to postgraduate courses in medical and dental colleges on the basis of marks in the qualifying examinations rather than any entrance examination. The two bills were unanimously passed in the state assembly.