Stellar TN role in medical OBC quota
Amid all the BJP euphoria over the Centre allocating 27% seats for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 10% for the Economically Weaker Section of the population in medical education within the All India Quota (AIQ), the fact that the reservation is the fallout of Tamil Nadu’s relentless struggle for social justice cannot be lost sight of. AIQ is a creature of the Supreme Court, which in 1986 decided to reserve 15% UG and 25% (now 50%) PG seats in state-run colleges for meritorious non-domicile students. Caste reservations crept into AIQ by and by with allocations for SC/STs, but the OBC quota was left undefined. Most states didn’t seem to mind as their total quota is capped at the SC-mandated 50%, while TN enjoys 69%, of which 50% is for OBCs. TN wanted its special reservation injected into AIQ for seats it surrendered to the national pool and got a favourable order from the Madras High Court in July last year. The order directed the Centre to set up a committee to carve out the OBC quota within three months, adding it would be applicable to all future admissions. Yet, the Centre took its time, delaying PG dental surgery admissions in the process, and getting a rap on the knuckles from the SC and later a rebuke from the Madras HC. In the HC, it argued in vain to maintain the status quo. Looking at the whole situation from this perspective, the recent decision to provide 27% OBC quota in AIQ seats doesn’t seem as rosy for the Centre as it later sought to spin it into. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
Tamil Nadu’s parties have again approached the HC saying the OBC quota cap for the state should be lifted to 50%. With the Bench agreeing that the question of applicability of each state’s standalone quota law in AIQ cannot be ignored, the ball is back with the Centre. On a different note, is the fight over AIQ’s OBC quota really adding seats for students in Tamil Nadu, since NEET score alone matters for that category, not domicile status? Data analytics ought to help indicate the trend, but there is no publicly available information yet to establish it.