Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced that the admissions to Indian Medical courses – Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy in Tamil Nadu for the 2018 to 2019 academic year will be held based solely on Class 12 marks.
The Chief Minister conducted a high-level meeting at the Secretariat on Monday to discuss the order issued by the Madurai bench of Madras High Court to award 196 grace marks to students who had given NEET 2018 in Tamil.
In the meeting the decision of the central government regarding NEET-based admissions to Indian medicine courses in Tamil Nadu was also discussed. A press release from the Secretariat stated that the state government has been firm in conveying its opposition to NEET-based admissions to Indian medicine courses in the state.
“The decision of the central government to adopt NEET-based admissions to Indian medicine courses is in direct contradiction to the state’s policy-based opposition and to the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Admission in Professional Courses Act, 2006. We have already conveyed our stand regarding this to the central government. Hence, we have decided that the admissions to Indian medicine courses in Tamil Nadu will be held solely based on Class 12 marks,” the statement said.
The meeting was attended by various ministers, the chief secretary, health secretaries (family welfare and Indian medicine) and other senior officers.
As per official statements, this is the current policy decision to be undertaken.
The Madurai bench of Madras HC ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to award 196 grace marks to students who had given the NEET 2018 exam in Tamil due to translation errors in the question paper. The order was issued after the CPI(M) MP TK Rangarajan filed a petition in the HC pointing out translation issues in the Tamil question paper issued by CBSE. The court had also ordered the CBSE to release a revised rank list after incorporating the grace marks within two weeks from the date of order.
Following this, the CBSE filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Monday against this order.