CHENNAI: Observing that there was no Constitutional or legal impediment to extend quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the State-surrendered seats, the Madras High Court on Monday directed the Centre to form a panel with State medical authorities and the Medical Council of India in providing reservation for OBCs under the All India Quota (AIQ) in State-run colleges. The court also directed the Centre to decide on the percentage in three months.
The court observed, “The matter has to be resolved between the State and the Centre with the participation of the MCI and the dental council. Therefore, we find that it would be appropriate that the issue is referred to a committee for providing the terms of implementation of such reservation as claimed by the petitioners.”
The bench, comprising Chief Justice AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, delivered the judgment on a plea submitted by political parties, including the AIADMK and the DMK.
Welcoming the verdict, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami tweeted, “The government is treading the path of social justice shown by J Jayalalithaa. The court has given a historic verdict following the legal steps taken by the government to ensure reservation for OBCs.”
The DMK and its allies adopted a resolution at a meeting held through video-conference urging the Centre to immediately act upon the judgment. The party wanted the Centre to ensure quota for OBCs and SC and ST candidates in this academic year itself. PMK founder S Ramadoss urged the Centre to immediately form a panel. BJP State president L Murugan said the verdict was given based on information provided by the Centre.
HC ruling applicable only to future students
The court, in its 170-page order, observed, “On principle, there is no legal or constitutional impediment for extending reservation to OBCs in the State-surrendered All India quota seats of UG/PG medical courses in the State-run medical colleges subject to any further directions or orders of the apex court.”
The Tamil Nadu government has a law for 50 per cent OBC reservation and it only requires implementation, which has to be carried out by the Central authorities.
Rejecting the contention of the MCI that permitting reservation in AIQ seats would compromise merit, the court said, “This argument gets diluted, as NEET examinations are now clearly designed to allow only such candidates to be admitted, who secure minimum merit.”
The court also took note of the MCI regulation submitted by the DMK which said the reservation policy, as adopted by the State, would apply to medical seats without expressly excluding AIQ seats.
It also noted an affidavit filed by the Union government both in the Supreme Court and the High Court informing the proposal to provide OBC reservation subject to a condition that the overall reservation will not exceed 50 per cent of seats.
Citing several judgments by the Supreme Court, the bench passed the orders, saying it will not be passing any positive directions since it cannot interfere in policy matters of the government unless any fundamental right is affected.
“The interference with a policy matter, if already taken, may be permissible through a judicial review to a limited extent but, on the other hand, it is debatable as to whether a policy framed in the shape of a proposal and not implemented can be enforced in the absence of a crystallised legal right,” observed the court.
It also made it clear that any decision of the committee would apply only to future academic years and not this academic year.Meanwhile, BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit spokesperson T Narayanan alleged that the DMK and the Congress have been trying to cover up the fact that the issue relating to OBC reservation had been persisting since 2007 when the reservation for Central government educational institutions began.He asserted that the BJP government at the Centre would ensure appropriate quota for OBCs.
Narayanan said that on January 4, 2007, the then UPA government brought in legislation to implement reservations in Central government educational institutions. The Centre had said that it would apply only to the Central government educational institutions. “Why wasn’t an order passed to provide reservation to OBCs in all-India quota? No petition was filed against it till 2014. Why were the DMK and the Congress, which were in power, remained silent on this issue,” he asked.
“The DMK and Congress did not involve themselves in the case that followed in 2015. But, with this year’s All India counselling coming to an end in April, they filed petitions which are politically motivated,” Narayanan claimed.
The BJP-led Union government had filed an affidavit in January 2016 in the 2015 Saloni Kumari case before the Supreme Court promising that it would make the appropriate reservation for the OBCs.
It’s a historic verdict, says Chief Minister
The court has given a historic verdict following the legal steps taken by the AIADMK government. We have been treading the path of social justice shown by our leader J Jayalalithaa