Chennai, July 13(BPNS)

The Madras High court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) filed by Tamil Nadu state general secretary of the BJP, K. Nagarajan against the constitution of Justice(Rtd ) A.K.Rajan committee constituted by the state government to study the impact of the National Eligibility -cum -Entrance Test (NEET) on students especially the socially and economically backward class students.

The Justice (Rtd) A.K. Rajan committee was constituted on June 10, 2021, by the DMK government to study the impact of NEET on socially and economically deprived students. The DMK had in its election manifesto opposed the NEET examinations and had promised that it would do away with the exam which was c causing great stress to the people from economically and socially deprived backgrounds. This was challenged by the BJP state secretary, K. Nagarajan.

The first bench of the Madras high court comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy while dismissing the PIL said that the constitution of such a committee cannot be seen as contrary to the orders of the Supreme Court or the powers of the Union government.

The court said, “There is nothing to stop an elected government from studying the impact of NEET”.

K. Nagarajan had in his plea stated that the constitution of such a committee was a futile exercise as the study of such a committee would not have any impact on the conduct of the NEET examination as the Supreme Court of India has already passed an order on the competitive examination earlier.

The petitioner had also contended before the court that the NEET was introduced after several studies and legal pronouncements and said that relying upon Plus two marks for medical admissions would lead to the selection of “average minds and below average students.”

He has also said that the constitution of the committee was far beyond the competence of the state and had termed it as a reckless act.