Neet manoeuvre: Papers with law, health ministries for approval

The state government had earlier submitted a draft seeking Neet exemption for two years, but the Centre had not given its commitment on the issue.

Update: 2017-08-14 20:03 GMT
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Chennai: Tamil Nadu is on the verge of getting exemption from Neet for the current academic year for admissions into medical courses as the Union Government is expected to give its in-principle approval for the state-specific ordinance submitted by the state government on Monday.

On a day of fast-paced developments, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan submitted a draft of the state-specific ordinance seeking exemption from Neet for 2017-2018 academic year to the Union home ministry in the morning and he was again at the North Block to submit additional documents.

The state government had earlier submitted a draft seeking Neet exemption for two years, but the Centre had not given its commitment on the issue.

However, the issue exemption gained traction after Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the Centre was ready to consider exemption for a year.

If all goes well and an Ordinance is promulgated, admissions into government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu would be done based on the marks obtained by candidates in their Plus-2 exams.

“The Chief Minister has been taking steps to ensure that rural students of Tamil Nadu do not get affected. We have now submitted the draft ordinance seeking exemption for a year,” Radhakrishnan told reporters at the Home Ministry. He is expected to stay put in the national capital for the next couple of days to coordinate the efforts.

The draft ordinance has now been sent to the ministries of Law and Health for suggestions and approval from them, following which it would be sent to President for his assent. Sources said the ordinance is likely to be approved by Wednesday since Tuesday is a holiday due to Independence Day.

In the draft ordinance, the state government has said since it cannot revise the syllabus overnight it needed exemption from Neet for this academic year. The ordinance also talks of the efforts being taken by the Tamil Nadu Government to bring in historic changes in the school education sector to prepare students for competitive exams.

Once the President gives his assent, Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao would promulgate the ordinance. But the legal woes may not end there since students of CBSE stream have threatened to challenge the proposed ordinance in the court of law.

Since the state-specific amendment that the Assembly passed in February for Neet exemption is of permanent nature, the ordinance is being brought with a specific period for exemption from the exam.

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