HC dismisses PIL challenging validity of TN’s panel on NEET

HC dismisses PIL challenging validity of TN’s panel on NEET

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.07.2021

The Madras high court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation moved by the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP challenging the validity of a committee constituted by the state government to study the impact of NEET on students from socially and economically backward classes.

“The setting up of the commission can, by no stretch of imagination, be seen to be contrary to any Supreme Court order, whether in letter or spirit, or as a counter to any legislative action taken by the Union or process put in place,” the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.

“For all we know, the commission may come up with some material that the state government may use to persuade the Union to search for an alternative or modify the process to make it more inclusive for students belonging to the socially backward and economically weaker sections to participate therein with a better chance of success,” the court added.

The setting up of the commission does not amount to subverting any process of admission, far less an act of defiance to any order passed by the Supreme Court or even the remotest challenge to the exclusive authority of the Union to enact a law and conduct a procedure in a field which is constitutionally designated to be undertaken only by the Union, the judges asserted.

Noting that a section of citizens may feel that it is a waste to appoint a commission; that the costs incurred in maintaining such commission may be better used to provide relief to those who suffered in course of the pandemic, the court said, “But these are choices that an elected government has to take.” Indeed, in the constitutional scheme, the elected government has the freedom to take. Courts cannot rush in and interdict notifications or steps taken pertaining to policy or for garnering public opinion or the like, the judges said.

The court added that the constitution of the commission does not call for any interference as long as the state does not do anything to upset the procedure for admission to medical institutions as established by law.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by BJP Tamil Nadu secretary K Nagarajan. He wanted the court to quash the order issued by the Tamil Nadu government on June10 constituting the committee headed by Justice A K Rajan.

HC order a significant step: Stalin

Chief Minister M K Stalin hailed the Madras high court order dismissing the plea against A K Rajan committee as a significant step in the struggle against Neet. Noting that the court has dealt a blow to BJP as well as AIADMK, Stalin said in a statement on Tuesday that the order has not only upheld the student’s rights, but also the state’s rights. “The judgement was a significant step in our battle against Neet,’’ he said. TNN