Neet 2017: SC bars medical admissions in Tamil Nadu

New Delhi: Apprehending that the Tamil Nadu government will promulgate an ordinance and commence the medical admission process on the basis of higher secondary marks, the Supreme Court on Thursday barred the state from making any medical admissions till August 22.

A three-judge bench passed this order on a batch of petitions seeking a direction to the state to release the Neet rank lists and commence the admission process. The bench made it clear to the state that Neet marks cannot be given a go-bye as students had been preparing for this examination for more than a year.

“It is a human problem. We can’t allow the state to completely disregard the Neet. A balance has to be struck keeping in mind the interests of the state board students to be admitted on the basis of higher secondary marks in the event of an ordinance and those who had cleared the Neet examination and waiting for adm-issions,” the court noted.

Senior counsel Nalini Chidambaram, appearing for a batch of students informed the bench that the state should not be allowed to promulgate the ordinance and admit students on the basis of Plus Two marks. She said the claim of rural students was a bogey being raised by the state as in the last 10 years only 250 students had been admitted to medical courses.

The bench took note of the submissions of senior counsel Vikas Singh for the Medical Council of India that the ordinance was illegal and Tamil Nadu should not be granted any exemption from NEET this year as sufficient time had already been given. Senior counsel Shekar Naphade for Tamil Nadu said the state can’t be prevented from coming out with the ordinance in the interests of state board students.

When Justice Misra wanted to know as to how NEET students could be denied admissions, the counsel said any law passed by the legislature is bound to affect some sections. The bench rejected this submission and favoured a balanced approach and questioned as to why Tamil Nadu woke up at the last minute.

Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta informed the court that the draft ordinance given by Tamil Nadu had been cleared by the attorney general K.K. Venugopal and the law ministry, he said the ordinance is expected to be promulgated by the state by Tuesday, August 22 after the Home Ministry forwards it to the Tamil Nadu governor. The Bench told the ASG “it is the responsibility of the Centre not to demolish NEET which has come to stay as a merit based admission process.”

Taking note of the submissions, the bench in a brief order said, “We have been apprised that an ordinance is likely to be promulgated. We have asked Mr Shekhar Naphade, senior counsel appearing for the state of Tamil Nadu and Mr Vikas Singh, senior counsel appearing for the Medical Council of India to consider how a balanced situation can be thought of so that the students who have come from the state board and have not been equipped to appear in NEET examination and the students who have appeared in the NEET examination and have qualified, can be adjusted.”

The bench asked the state to file the result sheet of the NEET examination pertaining to the students who belong to Tamil Nadu. The state shall also file the state board merit list. Additionally, the state shall also point out how many students from the state board are qualified in the NEET examination. “When we say the state board examination, it categorically conveys only the state board merit list and not with regard to any distinction between the rural and urban area. Status quo, existing as of today, as regards the admission to the medical courses in Tamil Nadu shall be maintained till then. List on August 22.”

Ms Chidambaram argued that she apprehended that the Tamil Nadu government is proposing an ordinance to get exemption from NEET. If such an ordinance is passed and presidential assent is given due to political pressure it would amount to a fraud on the Constitution.

She said after toiling hard for the last one year and getting reasonably good marks in NEET the state government is prevaricating and attempting at the last moment to change the criteria for admission to MBBS seats Government Medical Colleges and government quota seats in Self Financing colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu from NEET based to Plus 2 marks in violation of this court’s decisions.  

Senior counsel C.U. Singh for state board students who had cleared NEET pointed out that out of 33,000 students who had cleared NEET from Tamil Nadu, 30,000 students belonged to the state board and 3,000 to CBSE. The government is attempting to overreach the orders of this court by bringing an ordinance. If students are to be admitted on the basis of Plus two marks, several state board students will suffer. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on August 22.