Tamil Nadu's NEET Bill is under consideration by Governor, Raj Bhavan says in RTI reply 

The Bill to admit students to undergraduate medical courses in Tamil Nadu on the basis of Plus Two marks is “under consideration” of Governor RN Ravi, the Raj Bhavan has said in a response to queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, The Hindu reported.

PB Prince Gajendra Babu, General Secretary, State Platform for Common School System, Tamil Nadu, had filed an application under the RTI Act seeking to know the status of the Bill. Responding to his query on what action was taken by the Governor on the Bill and the “current status” of the Bill, the Raj Bhavan has reportedly said, “The file is under consideration”. The response was given on December 17 by S Venkateshwaran, Under Secretary to the Governor, in his capacity as Public Information Officer of Raj Bhavan.

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Babu had also filed applications under the RTI Act addressed to the offices of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and the Chief Secretary, the daily reported. In addition to the action taken and status of the Bill, he had asked if any letter or query was received from the Governor and whether the state government had sent any reply or reminder to the Governor on the Bill. Clarifying that the Chief Secretary is not an official designated to share information (or an appellate authority) under the RTI Act, the application was forwarded to the Health Department, which in turn sent it to the Law Department for a response.

The Legislative Assembly had on September 13 passed the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill 2021, seeking to “dispense” with the requirement for candidates to qualify in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses. Instead, the state wanted to admit students to MBBS and BDS courses on the basis of their class XII board exam marks.

The Bill was sent to Raj Bhavan to send it ahead to the Rashtrapati Bhavani for the Presidential assent when Banwarilal Purohit was Governor. Subsequently, Ravi had taken over as Governor. 

Incidentally, on November 27, the state government had released a photograph of Chief Minister MK Stalin meeting the Governor and had said that the former had pressed for forwarding the NEET Bill to the President immediately. However, on the same day, the Raj Bhavan had released a photograph of the meeting and said the “steps taken by the government on incessant rains and COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu” were discussed. It made no mention of the discussion on the NEET Bill.