CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the state health department and the selection committee for admission to courses in medicine to permit a candidate, who had belatedly submitted linguistic minority status, to appear for counselling under the linguistic minority category.
The order was passed by Justice Krishnan Ramasamy on Thursday on a petition filed by R Vikasini of Ranipet district.
The petitioner had applied for MBBS under the management quota. She had marked ‘no’ in the linguistic minority column since she could not get the certificate at that time. On Sep 22, 2026, she was issued with a Telugu Linguistic Minority certificate by the authorities. So, she tried to make the changes in the application through the portal but couldn’t.
Subsequently, she sent a representation through e-mail to the selection committee to look into her request for consideration under the linguistic minority quota but no action was taken. Hence, she filed the plea.
Advocate KS Jeyaganeshan, appearing for the petitioner, submitted since she obtained the certificate belatedly, her constitutional right to be admitted under the Telugu Linguistic Minority category cannot be deprived of and prayed for directions to allow her in the future counselling.
“Constitutional rights are guaranteed to the petitioner under the minority category, and such rights cannot be completely deprived owing to a delay in producing the certificate. While the modality of availing such benefits may differ, if the benefits are still available prospectively, the petitioner’s application can be considered, subject to the availability of seats,” the judge said.
He directed the authorities to permit the petitioner to participate in future rounds of counselling.