Justice Rajan committee submits NEET report to Stalin

Justice Rajan said a majority of the 87,000 representations received by the panel demanded that NEET be dispensed with

The Justice (retired) A K Rajan committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government to study the impact of NEET on students from economically weaker sections of the society submitted its report to Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday.

Justice Rajan, the chairman of the committee, said a majority of the 87,000 representations received by the panel demanded that NEET be dispensed with and admissions to medical colleges in Tamil Nadu should be on the basis of marks scored by students in their plus-two or Class 12 examination.

The report, which runs into 165 pages, will help the government formulate its strategy vis-à-vis NEET, sources said. The DMK government, which has promised to do away with the exam, is expected to bring a resolution in the Assembly during the ensuing Budget session against NEET by quoting from the Justice Rajan committee report extensively.

The committee, for the past month, received representations from students, parents, academicians, doctors, and others on the impact of NEET among students from rural areas and those belonging to financially weaker sections of the society.

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After submitting the report, Justice Rajan said a majority of the representations received have spoken against NEET, while some voiced their support for the exams. “I can only say this much now,” he told reporters.

In his report, Justice Rajan is understood to have recommended the continuation of the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation for government school students in medical admissions irrespective of NEET. The committee is believed to have noted that the reservation has ensured that a particular number of students from government schools will get into medical colleges.

The government is expected to use the data collected by the Justice Rajan committee to drive home its point that NEET is discriminatory against students from rural areas who are forced to compete with those from urban areas who have better access to education infrastructure.

NEET is an emotive issue in Tamil Nadu with 13 students ending their lives by suicide due to fear of facing the exam or having failed the test.