Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday wrote to his counterparts of 12 States — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, West Bengal and Goa — on the need to put up a united effort to restore the primacy of State governments in administering the education sector, as envisaged in the Constitution. He recalled a resolution adopted against the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in the Assembly.

“Our considered position has always been that the move by the Union Government to introduce NEET goes against the spirit of federalism and violates the constitutional balance of power by curbing the rights of the State governments to decide on the method of admission in the medical institutions founded, established and run by them,” the letter said.

AK Rajan Committee report

Stalin enclosed the report submitted by Justice AK Rajan Committee, which was appointed by the State government to study whether the NEET based admission process has affected the socially backward students in the past few years.

The Committee was also requested to suggest alternative admission procedures which would benefit all students, the feasibility of implementing such alternatives and the legal steps to be undertaken to implement such fair and equitable methods.

Based on the recommendation of the Committee, the Tamil Nadu State Assembly recently passed an Act called Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act, 2021.

“We consider that the State governments need to assert their constitutional right and position in deciding the method of admission to their higher educational institution’” he said.

Stalin urged his counterparts to extend their support to ensure that the students of the respective States, hailing those from rural areas and marginalised sections of the society are not put to hardship in obtaining admissions to higher educational institutions. “We need to put up a united effort to restore the primacy of State Governments in administering the education sector, as envisaged in our Constitution,” the letter said.

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