Prez rejects bills seeking NEET exemption, HC told

The Central government standing counsels made the submission during the hearing of a batch of pleas which sought to direct the Secretaries, part of the Union Ministries of Home Affairs, Health and Family Planning and Human Resource and Development, to complete the procedures for obtaining the Presidential assent for the bills passed by the Tamil Nadu State legislature in 2017.

Based on the submission made by the counsels that when clarification was sought for as to whether the bills have been withheld or rejected, the Under Secretary (Judicial and PP), Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that the bills have been rejected, the division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, to file an affidavit, setting out the details of the receipt of the bills, in particular the date of rejection. The bench then posted the matter to July 16.

Earlier, the Central Government counsels A Kumaraguru and TV Krishnamachari had submitted that the said bills were received from the Government of Tamil Nadu on February 20, 2017 and thereafter withheld by the President on September 18, 2017.

The pleas moved by IP Kanagasundaram, PB Prince Gajendra Babu, Tamil Nadu Students Parents Welfare Association and U Mustaffa had submitted that the bills exempting Tamil Nadu from NEET was passed on January 31, 2017 and sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs to obtain the President’s nod.

Once a bill is sent for assent, either the President should grant it or withhold the same in order to send it back to the Legislative Assembly for reconsideration. But the President cannot withhold the Bill endlessly without any reason and is bound by the provisions of the Constitution. Also, the Home Ministry cannot keep the bill without forwarding the same to the President for their political reasons, the plea said.

It also noted that the bulk of Tamil Nadu students appearing for NEET come from rural areas and besides lack of facilities they are not economically sound to access coaching classes to equip themselves to take the exam.