85 % Reservation For State Board Students: Madras HC Dismisses Tamil Nadu Government Appeal
In another setback for the Tamil Nadu government, the Madras High Court today dismissed an appeal filed by the state over the single judge order which quashed a Tamil Nadu government order reserving 85 per cent of MBBS and BDS seats to state board students and only 15 per cent for CBSE and other boards, holding that it amounted to discrimination among equals. According to the data submitted by Advocate General R Muthukumaraswamy to Madras High Court, under the 85-15 per cent quota, around 2,000 state board students and 520 CBSE students were expected to get chance for medical seats based on their NEET score.
A division bench of justices of Madras HC, Nooty Ramamohana Rao and M Dhandapani upheld the July 14 order of Justice K Ravichandrabaabu which quashed the government order.
According to Press Trust of India, the bench also directed the Tamil Nadu state government to take necessary steps expeditiously from now on to accomplish the task of filling up of the seats in MBBS and BDS courses before the August 31 deadline.
"We only hope and trust that the process of admission to MBBS/BDS courses for the academic year 2017-18 will not be delayed any further...," the court said.
The
single judge had on July 17 directed authorities to prepare a fresh merit list and conduct the counselling for NEET based medical and dental admissions accordingly.
On July 14, allowing petitions by some CBSE students challenging the June 22 state government order, the single judge held that the impugned reservation was poor from a legal standpoint and violated Act 14 of the Constitution (Equality before law).
He also held then that the reservation indirectly meddled with the objective and process of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and compromised on merits of selection.
The Tamil Nadu government, responding to the court order on July 14 said it would appeal against the Madras High Court verdict quashing its order reserving 85 per cent of MBBS and BDS seats for state board students and 15 per cent for the students of the CBSE and other boards.
Health and Family Welfare Minister C Vijayabaskar then said that the government was committed to its "policy decision".
On July 7, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea against the Tamil Nadu government order. A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud then asked the petitioner, father of a medical aspirant, to approach the Madras High Court which was already hearing pleas against the state government order.
Meanwhile, the
Tamil Nadu government today made the "final effort" in seeking exemption for the state's students from common nation-wide medical entrance test - NEET, with its representatives taking up the issue with Union ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh. TN Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, accompanied by Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, met Union Health Minister Nadda and Minister of State at the PMO Singh, in Delhi.
According to the earlier schedule, the merit list for medical courses was to be published on July 14 and the counselling to start three days later.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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