more-in A section of parents and students, who met the media here on Tuesday in support of National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test after organising themselves through social media, said that they would be challenging in court the ordinance to be enacted by the Tamil Nadu government to exempt government medical colleges from NEET for one year. Terming the ordinance proposed by the State government with the support of government at the Centre at the eleventh hour had put the future of hundreds of NEET-cleared students at risk, K.K. Kannan, one of the parents, said that the proposed ordinance, once passed, would not stand the scrutiny of the courts. “The Supreme Court has already struck down TN’s legislation, which served 85 % of medical seats for students from State board students on the ground that it violated the principle of equality before law. I am sure that the proposed ordinance would also be struck down,” he said. Almost all the students, who had gathered here, had completed Plus Two in 2016, a majority of them through State board, and invested another year to prepare for NEET. “We were assured last year that the exemption from NEET was only for 2016. It is atrocious that they are trying for exemption for another year,” said a student, requesting anonymity. S. Shankar, a parent, said that the proposed ordinance would indirectly favour private colleges, where the seats would have otherwise gone vacant. “Thousands of students, like those gathered here, cannot approach government colleges since they would not qualify through their Plus Two marks. Hence, they would be forced to approach private colleges. The ordinance would indirectly favour private colleges, where the seats are lying vacant,” he said. S. Ravichandran, another parent, alleged that lobbying to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET was primarily being done by the cartel of schools from certain western districts in the State that were notorious for their rote-learning methods to make the students score high in Plus Two examinations. “If the government is exempting government medical colleges from NEET, it will be the students from these private schools who will benefit the most. It will not be the students from underprivileged or rural background as claimed by the government. The underprivileged and rural children have always got only a negligible fraction of these seats,” he said. Mr. Ravichandran said that efforts were being made by multiple groups across the State to challenge the ordinance, if and when it is passed and gets the assent from President of India.

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