The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday, November 15, approached the Supreme Court challenging the President of India’s decision to withhold assent to the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021.
In its suit, the state said the President’s refusal, communicated through the Governor’s Secretariat on March 4, had created a “grave constitutional impasse”, according to The Hindu. The state argued that it had provided detailed responses to every objection raised by the Union government, yet the assent was “mechanically denied” without reason.
According to Bar and Bench , the petition raised substantial questions on constitutional federalism, legislative autonomy, and the scope of Articles 201 (procedure to be followed when a bill passed is reserved by the Governor for the President's consideration) and 254(2) (empowers state legislatures to submit a law on the subject/s of Concurrent List for assent to the President).
Tamil Nadu contended that, given the replies furnished, the 2021 Bill should be deemed to have received Presidential assent under Article 254(2). In the alternative, it sought a direction to place the Bill again before the President.
The Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill
The 2021 Bill, unanimously passed by the state Assembly, sought to restore Tamil Nadu’s pre-NEET model of admissions. The state argued that its long-standing systems, including the erstwhile Common Entrance Test, had historically produced world-class doctors and delivered a Gross Enrolment Ratio of 47%, far above the national average of 29%.
Tamil Nadu said NEET had “tilted the balance” in favour of affluent, urban, and CBSE-educated students with access to expensive coaching, excluding bright first-generation learners from rural, government, and Tamil-medium schools. It noted that over 70% of medical admissions post-NEET in the state went to repeaters, while the coaching industry had become highly commercialised and is worth thousands of crores.
The state emphasised that its earlier admissions system, based on class 12 marks with scientific normalisation, had ensured equity and high standards. Citing examples of earlier impersonation cases, paper leaks, and irregularities in NEET, the suit argued that a single numerical score could not capture the qualitative attributes essential for the medical profession.
The suit urged the Supreme Court to declare the President’s refusal unconstitutional and hold that the Bill stands approved, enabling Tamil Nadu to revert to an admissions framework that better reflects its social realities and constitutional responsibility under Article 47, to ensure equitable access to medical education.