NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Tamil Nadu to enforce 50% reservation for in-service candidates in super specialty courses in NEET-SS admissions for the academic year 2021-2022. The plea by some students had challenged the constitutional validity of the government order dated November 7, 2020 issued by Tamil Nadu for reserving 50% of the seats at the super specialty level in government medical colleges to in-service doctors.
“We are of the view that no case is made out for continuing the interim protection which was granted for the academic year 2020-2021 vide interim order dated 27th November, 2020 (supra) and thus, we reject the prayer in that regard. Needless to say that the state of Tamil Nadu would be at liberty to continue the counselling for academic year 2021-2022 by taking into consideration the reservation provided by it as per the said G.O,” the court order passed by Justice Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai reads.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave appearing on behalf of one of the petitioners had argued that the concerned G.O was unconstitutional and lacked authority. The state of Tamil Nadu was represented by Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari who had argued that non-service candidates do not stand by their compulsory bond duty. He had submitted that they abandon their duty towards the state once they get admission to super specialty courses, hence making it difficult for the state to sustain medical institutions. The state further argued that such special provisions serve a bigger purpose.
The plea filed by Advocate on Record Rashmi Nandakumar had said that the petitioner Dr N Karthikeyan and other students had given the examination pursuant to the information bulletin which states that there is no special provision.
“Various states have been attempting to impose different quotas on super specialty seats in government medical colleges within their jurisdiction. The NEET-SS is a national examination conducted in pursuance of the mandate to coordinate standards of education across the country. The petitioners submit that until the validity of special provisions in super specialty is determined by this Hon’ble Court and a uniform policy is drawn, no reservation can be created for in-service candidates at this level. The petitioners submit that in any case, no such reservation can be created mid-way through the examination process. Since the issue at hand has a national dimension, the petitioners seek to invoke the jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India,” the plea had said.