NEET: TN govt moves SC

The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court challenging the President of India’s decision to withhold assent to the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021. The Bill, which was unanimously passed by the Legislative Assembly, sought to exempt the state from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and restore admissions based on Class XII marks with a scientific system of normalisation. The Tamil Nadu government has said that the communication from the Governor’s Secretariat on March 4 showed that assent to the Bill was withheld mechanically on the aid and advice of the Union government and without assigning any reasons. However, in contrast, the state government had furnished detailed replies to every objection raised by the Ministries of Health, Education and AYUSH, it said. The President’s action has created a constitutional impasse, said the state government. It has been termed the action patently “unconstitutional” and a serious violation of the constitutional framework that regulates Centre-state relations in legislative matters. The petition further submitted that unexplained withholding of assent frustrates Article 201 and destroys the working of Article 254(2), which allows state laws on concurrent subjects to prevail within the state after receiving Presidential assent. “If such withholding is upheld, the constitutional avenue available to states to enact laws that differ from Union legislation will become meaningless,” it added. It has sought a declaration that the President’s action in withholding assent to the 2021 Bill is “unconstitutional and liable to be set aside”. @@@@