No NEET for Ayush admissions: TN Govt says only Class 12 marks to be considered for UG courses

State defies Centre’s circular which has mandated admission of students to the Ayush courses on the basis of the NEET merit list, says only Class 12 marks will be considered for UG courses
Representative image
Representative image

The Tamil Nadu government has defied the Centre’s circular which has mandated admission of students to the Ayush courses on the basis of the NEET merit list. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has said that admissions to the Ayush undergraduate courses for the academic year 2018-2019 would be done only on the basis of Class 12  marks.

“The admission to Ayush will be done based on Class 12 marks and not on NEET merit list,” announced the CM, after holding a review meeting with ministers and senior officials at the Secretariat on Monday.
The move comes in the wake of the Centre passing a circular that the states must follow the Central government’s instruction on the admission process this year and it must be only based on NEET.

A release from the Public Relations Department said the CM held a discussion with the ministers and the officials on the Central government’s order to admit students to Ayush undergraduate (UG) courses from the academic year 2018-2019 only on the basis of the merit list of NEET conducted by the CBSE.“The state has already explained its stand that NEET cannot be made mandatory for admission in Ayush courses, going against the Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006. Also, the Centre has not made the amendment to the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 to make NEET mandatory for Ayush UG courses,” the release added. 

“So, taking all these in view, it is decided at the meeting that the admission to Ayush UG courses for this academic year will be done on the basis of Class 12 marks,” the release added. It may be noted that the Centre had amended the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and passed the legislation in Parliament making NEET compulsory for MBBS and BDS courses in the country.

Speaking to Express, a senior Health Department official said, “The Centre had said it would subsequently bring an amendment to the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970, but till today it did not make any amendment. It had just sent a circular to the states, asking them to admit students to the Ayush UG courses only on the basis of the merit list of NEET conducted by the CBSE. But, that won’t stand the legal battle,” the official added.

When asked about the delay in announcing the state’s stand the official said the government wrote a letter to the Centre in April and received the reply recently saying that the states must follow the Central government’s instruction.

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