The Tamil Nadu state government had argued that it wanted to accommodate students from rural background, who deserved a slight levy as compared to their urban counterparts, to which the SC had said that intellect cannot be compromised upon.
Through the example of Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday made it amply clear that all states will have to adhere to the rules regarding common medical entrance exam. The apex court stated that students in Tamil Nadu will have to follow the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)–based route for counselling and subsequent admission to medical colleges in the state.
Earlier this month, on August 16, the law ministry had given a freeway to the Tamil Nadu government, which had sought relief by the way of letting medical students be exempt from appearing in NEET for subsequent admissions. A draft ordinance to this effect was cleared by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The Tamil Nadu state government had argued that it wanted to accommodate students from rural background, who deserved a slight levy as compared to their urban counterparts, to which the SC had said that intellect cannot be compromised upon.
The court has now directed that counselling for allotment of seats to medical and dental courses should be wrapped up by September 4.
The Centre has taken a strong stand of not supporting the ordinance, citing the fact that it would encourage other states to ignore the process of having a common entrance exam.
While Union Law and Home ministries had cleared the ordinance, Health Ministry sought the Attorney General's view with some fresh facts, and it was later believed that such an ordinance could not stand scrutiny in SC.
The Tamil Nadu government was adamant on reserving upto 85 per cent of MBBS and BDS seats for the state board while only 15 per cent for CBSE and other boards, an order that was later quashed by the Madras High Court.
NEET was conducted on May 7.
Earlier in January, Tamil Nadu was the first state that had moved state machinery to ask for exemption of aspirants to appear for NEET. While NEET replaced state entrance tests conducted by state or colleges in 2016, many institutes sought a stay order and went ahead with private exams for admissions
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