Why Tamil Nadu’s ruling TVK wants education back from Concurrent to State List amid NEET row
The Tamil Nadu state government renewed its demand for education to be moved from the Concurrent List back to the State List of the Constitution
The demand covers full state authority over education policy, including medical education, and is accompanied by a call for abolition of NEET
As an interim step short of a full constitutional amendment, a "Special Concurrent List" arrangement has been proposed to expand state decision-making authority over education
The demand comes against the backdrop of a decade-long dispute over NEET's effect on rural, government-school, and regional-language-medium candidates relative to those from urban, English-medium backgrounds
The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 — Education Moved to the Concurrent List
Education was originally a State List subject when the Constitution came into force in 1950. It was shifted to the Concurrent List by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, enacted during the Emergency, on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee that certain subjects needed uniform, all-India policy treatment.
Key Details
- The 42nd Amendment moved five subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List: education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wild animals and birds, and administration of justice
- Education now appears as Entry 25 of List III (Concurrent List): "Education, including technical education, medical education and universities... subject to the provisions of entries 63, 64, 65 and 66 of List I; vocational and technical training of labour"
- The 42nd Amendment is also known for other major changes, including insertion of the words "socialist" and "secular" into the Preamble
- The shift to the Concurrent List is what constitutionally enabled a uniform, centrally administered entrance test such as NEET to apply across states
The demand to reverse this 1976 shift is, at its core, a demand to undo the constitutional basis on which a central examination like NEET can override state-specific admission processes.
Article 246 and the Seventh Schedule — Distribution of Legislative Power
Article 246 lays down which legislature (Parliament, state legislature, or either) can make laws on subjects in the Union, State, and Concurrent Lists of the Seventh Schedule. Education's placement in the Concurrent List means both Parliament and state legislatures can legislate on it, but Union law prevails in case of a direct conflict, subject to a narrow exception.
Key Details
- Under Article 246, Parliament has exclusive power over List I (Union List) subjects, state legislatures over List II (State List), and both over List III (Concurrent List)
- Article 254(1) provides that if a state law on a Concurrent List subject conflicts with a Union law, the Union law prevails and the state law is void to the extent of the repugnancy
- Article 254(2) allows a state law to prevail over an existing Union law on the same Concurrent List subject only if it has received the President's assent — but even then, Parliament can subsequently override it
- Entry 66 of List I (Union List) separately gives Parliament exclusive power over "coordination and determination of standards" in institutions of higher education, which takes precedence over any state law under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List
Tamil Nadu's own attempt to exempt itself from NEET through the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021 relied on the Article 254(2) route, seeking Presidential assent — the bill was not granted assent, illustrating the practical limits of this exception even for a State List-adjacent subject.
NEET's Constitutional and Legal Journey
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is the single, centrally conducted entrance examination for undergraduate and postgraduate medical admissions across India, whose legal standing has itself been contested and reversed by the courts once before.
Key Details
- NEET was first conducted in 2013 but struck down by the Supreme Court the same year in a 2:1 split verdict, on the ground that the then-regulator (Medical Council of India) lacked the power to conduct a common entrance test
- It was not held in 2014 and 2015, with admissions reverting to state-level and other entrance tests during this gap
- A five-judge Supreme Court bench reinstated NEET in April 2016
- The National Medical Commission Act, 2019 subsequently made NEET the sole entrance examination for undergraduate and postgraduate medical admissions nationwide, and since 2019 it has been conducted by the National Testing Agency
The renewed demand to move education to the State List is, in effect, a second attempt to challenge NEET's uniformity — this time through a constitutional amendment route rather than litigation, having already tried and failed via the Article 254(2) route in 2021.
- Education was a State List subject from 1950 until the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 moved it to the Concurrent List (Entry 25, List III)
- The 42nd Amendment also moved forests, weights and measures, wildlife protection, and administration of justice to the Concurrent List
- Article 254(2) allows state laws on Concurrent List subjects to prevail only with Presidential assent; Tamil Nadu's 2021 NEET-exemption bill did not receive this assent
- NEET: first conducted 2013, struck down by the Supreme Court the same year, not held in 2014–15, reinstated by a five-judge bench in April 2016
- National Medical Commission Act, 2019 made NEET the sole medical entrance exam nationwide; conducted by the NTA since 2019
- Entry 66, List I gives Parliament overriding power over standard-setting in higher education, taking precedence over Concurrent List Entry 25