The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : CET: protest by PMK leaders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

CET: protest by PMK leaders

Special Correspondent

"Convene special Assembly session"

SEEKS BAN: PMK leader S. Ramadoss leading a demonstration in Chennai on Tuesday to demand a ban on common entrance test. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: The Pattali Makkal Katchi on Tuesday demanded that a special session of the State Assembly be convened to adopt legislation upholding the Government order abolishing the common entrance test (CET) for professional courses.

It wanted the Government to take the steps to overrule the Madras High Court judgment that struck down the order on the CET.

S. Ramadoss, PMK founder, G.K. Mani, party president, and other leaders staged a demonstration near the Chennai Collectorate.

"Act immediately"

Addressing the party volunteers, Dr. Ramadoss said the State Government should act with the same sense of urgency it displayed while enacting the 69 per cent reservation law a decade ago. "It should convene a special sitting and pass legislation to scrap the CET. The approval of the Central Government should also be obtained.

Besides, the State should adopt enough legal safeguards if anyone goes to the court against such a law," he said. "If the State Government fails to act on these lines, the people will regard its decision of dispensing with the CET scheme as an eyewash."

He faulted the State Government for not highlighting "adequately" the case in support of the rural students before the High Court. The State should have presented facts to the Court to explain how the CET scheme was detrimental to rural students. Even now, the quality of infrastructure available in schools in of rural areas was poor compared to those in urban areas.

This placed the rural students at "great disadvantage." Though the principle of "all are equal before law" was acceptable, the reality in the school education scenario was that the rural and urban students were not equally placed, he said.

Dr. Ramadoss said his party would rest only after the rural students were rendered social justice.

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