CHENNAI: Holding that by no stretch of imagination can a birth certificate be construed as a nativity certificate, the Madras High Court has rejected a plea from an MBBS aspirant to direct the State Selection Committee to select him to the course. M Goutham was born at Karur on June 5, 2000 and belongs to the Kongu Vellalar, a backward class, community. He completed Class 10 at Kottayam and Class 12 in 2017. He secured 424/720 marks in NEET, but was not included in the rank list and is not aware of his rank.
Justice S Vaidyanathan pointed out that the petitioner had not only selected the State of Kerala as his examination centre, but had also mentioned his address as being in Kerala. The birth certificate can by no stretch of imagination be construed as the nativity certificate. Even though the petitioner had mentioned in the confirmation page that the State to which he belongs to is Tamil Nadu, as he has not satisfied Clause 3 of the Prospectus issued by TN for admission to medical courses, he would not be entitled to relief, the court said.
“If we read the Prospectus, more particularly Clause 3(f), in the present case on hand, the nativity cannot be construed as the place of birth. The Supreme Court held that it was not clear as to what exactly ‘nativity’ means. In the present case on hand... it is seen that the intention is to provide seats to the students who studied in the State of Tamil Nadu and the nativity certificate would mean not the place of birth, but the place of residence for several years of the candidate.... In this case, admittedly, the student has studied in Kerala and none of the clauses, more particularly Clause 3(f), is attracted to the facts of the case on hand and hence, the petitioner should be deemed to have applied for NEET as a candidate outside Tamil Nadu,” the judge said and dismissed the writ petition. The student’s counsel, after pronouncement of the order, pleaded that the petitioner’s case be considered in the open category. The judge said if the petitioner was interested, he could try his luck under the all-India quota.
‘Examine documents’
As petitioner had given a nativity certificate issued by Tamil Nadu dated August 25, 2018 and there was a certificate issued by Village Officer, Kottayam dated May 14, 2018, the veracity of both needed to be examined, as no person can reside temporarily on a permanent basis in Kerala, judge said.