Private member resolution seeking repeal of NEET, NTA introduced in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: A private member resolution asking the government to bring a law to remove education from the concurrent list, and repeal NEET and NTA to allow states to conduct medical entrance tests was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

DMK member from Tamil Nadu M Mohamed Abdulla moved the resolution during the private member business in the afternoon session of the Rajya Sabha amid opposition from the government, contending it would be against the Supreme Court's verdict on the NEET issue.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions.

The resolution sought that the Rajya Sabha urges the government to bring legislation to remove education from the concurrent list and move it to the state list in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

It also sought to repeal NEET and NTA and revert to medical admissions based on the criteria of state governments, which are uniquely tailored to the requirements of particular states and also provide a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of victims affected by the NEET exam.

Moving the resolution, Abdulla highlighted the "injustice inflicted on domiciled students of states and infringement upon the autonomy of state governments in the field of medical education".

"The NEET exam is flawed in the way of selection of eligible candidates," he said and cited the "present NEET question paper leaks, the irresponsible award of grace marks and the inability of NTA to successfully conduct the exam without prejudice to students".

Even before Abdulla could move the resolution after being asked by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary intervened and said the private resolution goes against "several precedents and parliamentary norms and practices".

He said the Supreme Court gave directions in 2018 and after those directions and judgments NEET exam was being conducted by NTA.

After the recent judgement by the apex court, the government instituted a high-powered committee headed by eminent personalities to look into reforms of the whole examination process and review the functioning of NTA and data security protocols.

Against this backdrop, discussing scrapping of NTA and NEET in the Rajya Sabha will go against the spirit of the Supreme Court judgement, Chaudhary said and asked Abdulla to withdraw the resolution.

Ghanshyam Tiwari of the BJP concurred with Chaudhary, saying a discussion on the issue would amount to defying the Supreme Court.

Many opposition members, including CPI(M)'s John Brittas and V Sivadasan, the AAP's Raghav Chadha and Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil argued that disallowing a member to move a resolution in the House that has been approved by the chairman would be an infringement to a member's right.

Amid shouting from both sides, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju asked the Chair to allow the member to proceed if he wanted to but demanded a division on the resolution.

"The judiciary and the legislature do not challenge each other. We respect each other. The ruling of the Supreme Court is the law of the land and Parliament makes the laws.

"At a time when the government has agreed with the Supreme Court order and has started the implementation process, discussing the topic again will not be appropriate considering the tradition we have followed," Rijiju remarked.

The deputy chairman then assured the Rajya Sabha that due process of the House would be followed and asked Abdulla to move the resolution.

Congress member Shakti Singh Gohil said the political entities should rise above party politics to discuss the matter.

Jawhar Sircar of the Trinamool Congress claimed that the NEET system favours students from the CBSE board and is not fair to students of the state boards.

The experience with the NTA has proven to be bad and there must be efforts to come up with a better system, he said.

N R Elango of the DMK termed the NEET against the spirit of federalism and against the students, as he sought support from all political parties to abolish it.

Raghav Chadha said there remains a huge gap between education and employability in the country and NEET aspirants were suffering due to the corrupt system.

He urged the government to conduct a thorough investigation and to punish the people responsible for the NEET fiasco.

While Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD sought abolition of both NTA and NEET, Brittas noted the matter impacts millions of students and their families, and therefore there is a need to discuss the matter in detail and understand how a solution could be found.

On the other hand, Ajit Madhavrao Gopchade of the BJP termed NEET a success while stating that the pass percentage of weaker sections of society and women candidates has increased over the years.