TN's NEET 7.5% quota bill: CM EPS finds detour! Issues order by bypassing the Governor!

After bracing up the month-long delay from Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit to get his consent to the NEET 7.5% quota bill, the state government has, on Thursday, dotted up the delay and surpassed the Governor under the executive route and passed the Government Order (G.O) for the reservation bill with the view of facilitating admissions into medical colleges for the current academic year 2020-21. 

According to reports, the bill, which allows 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students who have cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions into medical courses, was passed unanimously by the Tamil Nadu assembly with the support of all the parties on September 15, 2020, and after the passage, the bill was sent to the Governor to get his consent at the earliest for enabling the gateway for the government school students to pursue medical studies. 

However, the bill was lying before the Governor's desk for over a month. The Tamil Nadu government had pressed the Governor to give his swift consent to the bill while the opposition parties and students' forums had held protests against the Governor before Raj Bhavan in Chennai last week. DMK President Stalin had written to the Governor to give his approval for which Purohit had on last week responded back by stating that he requires at least three to four weeks' time to arrive at a final decision. 

As the Governor tends to buy more time and as it has been piled up with demands from the opposition, the Tamil Nadu state government has, on Thursday, passed the bill and issued the order for providing 7.5% reservation for government school students who had cleared NEET and through the order, the government has surpassed the Governor and passed the order with its executive power. 

According to reports, the state government has obtained legal advice from the counsels and decided to go through the executive detour, instead of the legislative route with having no clarity on when the Governor would give his consent. The G.O said that the horizontal reservation shall be provided in each category of vertical reservation followed in the state of Tamil Nadu within the 69% reservation from the academic year 2020-21. 

The GO further stated that the decision has been taken by keeping in mind the urgency of the situation and executive directions under Article 162 of the Constitution of India have been used. The government said that as the NEET-UG results were announced and the admission process for medical studies had already begun, there is an urgency to decide on this issue and it has used the executive power and the government has taken the policy decision and issued orders. 

Some reports say that it's not yet clear whether the state government can pass the GO while the bill on the same matter is still pending with the Governor. However, if everything goes as planned by the state government, the order of legalizing the reservation bill would pour a major relief to the government school students across the state who are aspiring to pursue medical studies. The bill would benefit and guarantee the government school students, who had cleared the NEET, to secure the medical admissions under reservation basis. 

The delay from the Governor had gone to the extent where some of the state political leaders had urged the Central government and President to withdraw the Governor from the state. The opposition DMK and its allied parties had held protests against the Governor and had staunchly demanded him to give his nod while the state government delegation of five senior ministers and requested the Governor to give his swift consent to the bill. However, there has been no update from his side following which the government had bypassed him and issued the government order. 

According to reports, the 7.5% NEET reservation bill is applicable to the state quota seats in all Government Medical and Dental colleges and all courses for which NEET has been prescribed as eligibility criteria and to the seats allotted by the state government in the self-financing medical and dental colleges, minority and non-minority, and under all disciplines. 

 

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