CHENNAI: In a big victory for the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the 7.5 per cent quota for govt school students in medical admission for undergraduate courses in Tamil Nadu.
The first bench headed by Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy pronounced the verdict on a batch of petitions filed by private school students challenging the reservation and aided school students seeking similar benefits to them as well.
The constitutional validity of the 7.5 per cent reservation for govt school students in medical admission is upheld, the bench said in the order.
It directed the State government to review the quota in five years.
The court dismissed all the petitions challenging the reservation and seeking similar benefits.
The order, having far-reaching consequences, is considered a big boost to the DMK government's commitment to ensuring social justice, the main plank on which the Dravidian movement was raised.
In fact, the quota was introduced by the previous AIADMK government but faced legal tests.
The current government has now overcome them.The government fielded a battery of senior advocates including Kapil Sibal, P Wilson and Tamil Nadu Advocate general R Shunmugasundaram to defend the quota which helped several students belonging to the downtrodden sections to get enrolled into government medical colleges.
Senior counsel and DMK Rajya Sabha Member P Wilson termed the judgment a big victory.