Madras High Court seeks response from Tamil Nadu, DMK on PIL against "false promises" by State govt on NEET

The Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition registering protest against the "false promises" made by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led State government regarding the cancellation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in Tamil Nadu (KS Vetrivel v. State of Tamil Nadu and ors).The petition moved by one, KS Vetrivel, sought compensation for adversely affected students and directions to stop State government authorities from making any further public statement regarding the cancellation or anticipated cancellation of NEET until the petition is decided..A Bench of Justices M Duraiswamy and K Murali Shankar issued notice in the matter on Wednesday. Besides the State, the DMK party was also asked to file a response to the plea..Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Naveen Kumar Murthi alleged that it was due to the irresponsible conduct of the ruling DMK government that young students have died by suicide.."It is high time that the present Government stop making false promises to innocent students, stop making any public announcements in the Legislative Assembly by the Government as well as the representatives of DMK with regard to scraping of NEET which stops creating false hopes among the medical aspirants till a conclusive and viable solution is arrived at finally", the petition stated..The petitioner made the following prayers before the High Court:The DMK-led State government should compensate the families of students who took their own life by paying an amount of Rs.1 crore. Further, it wass prayed that ₹5 lakh should be paid as compensation by the State for students undergoing the stress, depression or whose mental health has been affected by the DMK government's promises on NEET. The Court was also urged to restrain the State government and the DMK from making any further reckless and baseless statements for political mileage regarding the cancellation or anticipated cancellation of NEET until the present petition is disposed of.."If the Government and the members of the DMK party continue to make such false assurances regarding NEET examination, the confusion in the minds of the students would deepen and the same would hamper the preparation of the students to face the next NEET examination", the petition stated..PIL in Madras High Court against "false promises" by DMK-led Tamil Nadu Govt on NEET