The Tamil Nadu government will withdraw cases registered against students who had protested against the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, state minister A Rajmohan said on Sunday.

In a social media post, the minister for school education said that the decision was taken as per the directions of Chief Minister Vijay. He also said that the government would announce further details shortly.

Protesters in Tamil Nadu alleged that repeated irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, including question paper leaks, had eroded public trust in the medical entrance examination, The New Indian Express reported. They demanded that the NEET examination be scrapped, and that the National Testing Agency, which conducts the test, be dissolved.

The NEET-UG examination is the mandatory entrance examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses.

The protesters in Tamil Nadu also demanded a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities and restoration of education to the state list, the newspaper reported. In 1976, education was moved from the state list to the concurrent list, which allowed both the Union government and state governments to make laws about it.

The demonstrations in Tamil Nadu included flash protests at several locations, The Hindu reported. A continuous sit-in was organised at Balan Illam, the state headquarters of the Communist Party of India in Chennai.

The statement by the Tamil Nadu government came in the backdrop of youth protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party that led to the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The protesters had been demanding Pradhan’s resignation on account of alleged mismanagement of a series of competitive examinations, including NEET-UG.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.