Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterating the State’s opposition to the introduction of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) in any name or manner. She recalled her letter of February 9 and urged the Prime Minister to instruct the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to withdraw the review petition filed in the Supreme Court by the previous United Progressive Alliance government.
In her three-page letter, she said that NEET “would adversely affect the interests of students in the State, in particular those from weaker sections and from rural areas and as it infringes upon the State’s right to determine the admission policies to medical educational institutions” in the State.
Ms. Jayalalithaa recalled the Supreme Court judgment of July 2013 that the notification by the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of India introducing NEET for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses was found ultra vires the Constitution and was quashed.
“Despite our strong and sustained objections, it is unfortunate that the then UPA government had filed a review petition which has not been withdrawn by the present government,” she pointed out, adding that 15 per cent of MBBS seats and 50 per cent of post-graduate seats in the government medical and dental colleges were being surrendered to the Central pool for which the students are selected through a common entrance exam.
