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Synopsis

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed as withdrawn a petition filed by Advocate ML Ravi against a signature campaign  "NEET Vilaku, Nam llakku" (Our Goal is to Abolish NEET) initiated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. 

The campaign was launched by Tamil Nadu's Sports and Youth Development Minister, Udayanidhi Stalin, with the aim of collecting 50 lakh signatures in 50 days to advocate for the abolition of the NEET exam. The collected signatures would be presented to President Draupadi Murmu.

It was the contention of the petitioner that the NEET exam had already been established and implemented, and the legal challenges against it had concluded.

He argued that a Minister, acting as an implementing authority, should not endorse protests against a law that is already in place. While the Constitution grants every individual the right to protest, a Minister is expected to uphold the Constitution and the law, he contended.

Moreover, he raised concerns about the ruling DMK party taking advantage of its position by engaging in political activities within schools without obtaining parental consent.

Such campaigns might adversely affect students' motivation to prepare for the NEET exam, potentially leading to missed opportunities, the petitioner submitted. 

However, while hearing the petition, a division bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy questioned how he was personally affected by a political party's campaign.

It is political parties' right to engage in protest activities as long as they do not contravene public policy, the bench said. 

The court then ordered Ravi to deposit a sum of one lakh rupees, following which Ravi sought leave to withdraw his petition. Court acceded to the same and dismissed the plea as withdrawn.

Case Title: ML Ravi v The Secretary and Others