The many layers to volleying of NEET Bill by TN govt and Governor

The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday made history of sorts, adopting once again the NEET Exemption Bill that was returned a few days earlier by Governor RN Ravi. Following a walkout staged by four BJP MLAs, the House cleared the Bill unanimously, as a voice vote was supported by all including main Opposition AIADMK.

The event is the latest in a years-long tug-of-war that has hit a gamut of nerves. The pro-NEET and anti-NEET voices have put forth fierce arguments that have surfaced once again in the TN Assembly, with the State government countering the Governor’s arguments against the Bill. While on the surface it is the big question of how Tamil Nadu students enter medical colleges in a socially just way, there are several layers to the issue, federal rights being the main one.

Education is on the Concurrent List, and the TN government wants complete control over admissions to medical colleges. However, the fact that education is on the Concurrent List is what gives the Centre constitutional ammunition in this context.

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This is the first time that the TN Assembly has re-adopted a Bill returned by the Governor. Since there are few precedents, legal experts are speculating on what the Governor’s next course of action would be.

What the Governor said

Ravi returned the NEET Exemption Bill, saying the report of the AK Rajan Committee — the foundation on which the Bill was written — was ‘utterly unconvincing’. The report merely reflected the ‘jaundiced view’ of the committee formed by the TN government, he said.

In his communication to the Assembly Speaker while returning the Bill, the Governor listed the ‘sweeping assumptions’ made by the Rajan committee, such as — NEET is anti-merit, enables low-performing students to get admission to MBBS (through coaching institutes), and discourages complex thinking and higher order of skilling vis-à-vis State board examinations.

He further argued against the committee’s observation that NEET is biased in favour of physics, chemistry and biology. The State board examinations test “all possible knowledge”, the report had said. Ravi called the observation ‘bizarre’ and ‘without merit’. “The medical profession is a highly specialised discipline of science in which a reasonably sound knowledge of the basics of physics, chemistry and biology is a prerequisite,” he argued. The Governor also cited an earlier Supreme Court verdict upholding NEET.

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In the pre-NEET years, just around 1% of government school students made it to government medical colleges, he said, citing statistics from the report. “It reflects the sorry state of affairs in the government schools which cater mostly to poor students,” he said. “Ignoring this crucial fact coming in the way of social justice the report instead goes off the tangent and blames NEET.”

Tamil Nadu government’s stance

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Health Minister Ma Subramanian gave strong rebuttals in the Assembly to the Governor’s observations, and accused him of ‘humiliating’ the Legislative House.

“The Governor’s assessment of the findings of Justice AK Rajan committee findings is totally wrong. NEET is easy only for those who can afford private coaching… it is beyond the reach for those from poor, rural or marginalised communities,” said Subramaian.

The Committee had collated data and gathered the views and opinions of the public. It had presented the report only after holding detailed discussions with various experts, said Subramanian, responding to the Governor’s charge that the report was ‘jaundiced’.

The Minister also said the TN government did not blindly create the Bill on the Committee’s report. The Committee offered seven recommendations, and the government chose the third one after much deliberation, he said. “It is wrong on the part of the Governor to say that this Bill was brought in based on some report,” he argued.

The Education Minister further said Ravi’s return of the Bill was constitutionally wrong. “Under Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor should have sent the Bill to the President and if the President had any doubts, he should have sent the Bill to the Assembly through the Governor,” he said. “The Governor cannot unilaterally send the Bill back. This is unconstitutional.”

Options before the Governor

Article 200, under which Ravi returned the Bill, says the Governor shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he withholds assent therefrom or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President.

Since the State legislation directly opposes a Central legislation, the NEET Exemption Bill requires the assent of the President to become a law. Now that the TN Assembly has passed the anti-NEET Bill again, the Governor has no option but to forward it to the President, said some legal experts. Since it relates to a Concurrent List matter, the Governor only has the authority to forward the Bill to the President, they said.

In 2017, the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu had sought to pass a similar Bill, but it did not get the President’s assent. When such a precedent existed, there was hardly any need for the Governor to intervene and stall the passage of the new NEET Bill, said experts.

The idea of federalism

The Tamil Nadu government sees the latest event in the NEET Bill saga as another affront to the philosophy of federalism. “We are not only getting together to talk about the NEET exam. We have gathered to preserve the Tamil Nadu Legislature’s sovereignty and rights,” said Stalin in the Assembly. “Federalism is a fundamental idea that truly safeguards the ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity of the Indian subcontinent.”

Reacting to the Governor’s rejection of the Bill, Stalin said it was an “attack on the autonomy of the State” and “a shame on federalism”. The Governor was bound to forward Bills that contradict central government laws to the President, he emphasised, asking: “What happened to the rights of States?”

The DMK has been saying education should be brought fully under the State list to prevent such fracas. Recently, party MP P Wilson moved a private member Bill in Parliament, seeking to move education from the Concurrent List to the State List, but there is little chance of the Union government agreeing to it.