The war of words between the BJP and the DMK in Tamil Nadu is likely to continue over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) after the Union Health Ministry in its affidavit before the Madras High Court said that the committee is 'neither requisite nor valid'.
The Union ministry filed the affidavit on Thursday. BJP Tamil Nadu state secretary K Nagarajan had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Madras High Court that the Justice (Rtd) AK Rajan committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government was against the constitution and prayed in the PIL to quash it.
Undersecretary in Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Chandan Kumar in the ministry's appeal stated that according to Section 14 of the Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act, that admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses would be made only through NEET. He also stated that the Supreme Court had on April 29, 2020 in a case filed by the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore had held that NEET was neither opposed to social principles guaranteed in the constitution nor to the social fabric of the country.
The Union Health Ministry also stated in the Madras High Court that the terms of reference of the Justice AK Rajan committee read as if the state government has already come to a conclusion that NEET was against the students of socially and economically backward classes. BJP state secretary, K Nagarajan said, "There is no locus standi in constituting a committee like Justice AK Rajan committee even after the Supreme court had in the CMC Vellore case clarified that NEET is not against social justice."
The DMK, Dravida Kazhagam and other parties have filed separate petitions before the Madras High court to implead themselves as parties to the proceedings in the PIL filed by K Nagarajan on June 10th to quash the proceedings of the Justice( Rtd) AK Rajan committee. The first bench of the Madras High court comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy is slated to hear the case on July 13.
