The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has gone hammer and tongs at K. Nagarajan, State secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for having filed a case in the Madras High Court against the constitution of Justice A.K. Rajan committee by the Tamil Nadu government to study the impact of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on medical admissions.
In an affidavit filed in support of its impleading petition, DMK organising secretary R.S. Bharathi said Mr. Nagarajan was neither a soothsayer nor an astrologer to predict the outcome of the committee and oppose its constitution right at the inception. It also claimed that the writ petition filed by the BJP leader was a “byproduct of thorough ignorance of law and facts”.
The affidavit filed through senior counsel P. Wilson stated that “it requires a degree of extraordinary perversion to seek to oppose such constitution of a high-level committee to study the impact of NEET on students from socially and economically backward classes. It boggles the mind as to what grievance anybody can possibly have for a committee to study the impact of NEET on the children of Tamil Nadu.”
“Our ideal of securing social justice in education may be something that is antithetical to the ideals of the writ petitioner [Mr. Nagarajan]. He is clearly unmoved by the heartbreaking incidents of children committing suicide due to NEET. The impleading petitioner party [DMK], however, cannot turn a Nelson’s eye to the plight of our people,” it said.
Pointing out that the DMK was currently the ruling party in the State elected by the people with a resounding mandate and that it was also the third largest party in the present Lok Sabha after having won 38 out of 39 seats in the State, the party said the writ petitioner before the court was not even an elected representative and that he did not even have the locus standi to file the present case.
“The writ petition has been filed on the basis of conjectures and surmises and on hypothetical facts, assumptions and presumptions. The petition is not bona fide and is politically motivated. It is an attempt to prevent the restoration of social justice in education and a level playing field for the students hailing from all walks of life. The petitioner has commercial motivation to help the coaching centres,” the DMK said.
The case is listed for hearing before Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Monday. Many other political parties, including the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, individuals and organisations too have filed petitions to implead themselves in the case in support of the committee and against the case filed by Mr. Nagarajan.
