Tamil Nadu government today announced that admissions to medical courses would be on merit and not through the Common Entrance Test (CET) as directed by the Supreme Court in view of the Assembly elections.

Official sources said a policy decision whether to accept the Supreme Court’s guidelines will be taken by the new government after the April 13 polls.

The state government had obtained an interim stay in the Madras High court on CET, which was brought to the apex court’s notice by the state government advocate when the case came up for hearing, the sources said.

Tamil Nadu government had abolished the entrance tests for admissions to professional courses and had been adopting the policy of admissions on the basis of marks secured by students at the Plus Two exams, they said.

At a recent conference of health ministers at Hyderabad, it was decided to do away the CETs for medical college admissions, they added.

State Health Department Principal Secretary Mr V K Subburaj said the Centre had issued a notice to the Medical Council of India (MCI) this January to withdraw the announcement on conducting CET for medical courses.

“As per the state government’s policy, this academic year, students admission to MBBS courses will be based as per the marks obtained in the Higher Secondary examination and not by conducting Common Entrance Test”, he said in a release.

The Supreme Court had on Monday directed the Centre to hold a single common entrance test on a plea by MCI seeking to start a single eligibility-cum-entrance exam for MBBS and post-graduate medical courses in the country.

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