Ministry of Home affairs to look into Tamil Nadu NEET Bills

New Delhi: The two key bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly for exemption from NEET for the state of Tamil Nadu will be under consideration by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Ministry will try and find a way to resolve the Central Government’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET) issue in the state for medical and dental courses.

The two Bills- Tamil Nadu Admissions to Post Graduate Courses in Medicine and Dentistry Bill, 2017 and the Tamil Nadu Admissions to MBBS and BDS Courses Bill, 2017 were unanimously cleared by the state legislative assembly in February 2017, and ever since have been waiting for presidential consent.

According to highly placed sources in the Home Ministry, both the bills under file numbers-17/05/2017 and 17/06/2017 were received on February 20, 2017.

“As far as current status is concerned, it is most likely pending with the state government. The meeting especially called to review bills from Southern States will be chaired by additional secretary level officer with the stakeholders and senior officers of the Central Ministries,” said sources

Chief Minister E.K.Palaniswami had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April seeking a Presidential nod for the two bills. He argued that the two bills aimed to protect the existing admission policy for under graduate and post graduate admissions in government medical and dental colleges of the state which protected the interest of the weaker sections of the state.

The Home Ministry will also review the Tamil Nadu Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and determination of fee) Bill, 2006 which has been lying pending for quite sometime. The file- 17/32/2006 was first received in the Home Ministry on September 27 2006,. The bill is meant to streamline admission process and fee structure in the professional courses.

The Centre will also review the ‘Dentist (Andhra Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2017. The bill cleared by state assembly in March is pending with Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At least 8 bills from Karnataka will be reviewed on Tuesday. The top most for consideration being the ‘Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation During Emergency Situation) Bill, 2016 that has also been pending with the Ministry of Health reports TNIE.