CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the Puducherry Union Territory government to give MBBS admission to two girls belonging to ‘backward tribes’ (BT) category in the vacancies available under ‘scheduled tribes’ (ST) quota, since there is no separate reservation for backward tribes.
Justice CV Karthikeyan recently passed the orders while allowing the petitions filed by M Hemalatha and K Megatharani who belong to Kattunayakan community categorised under backward tribes.The petitioners had said that they had scored eligible marks in NEET but were not given admission for MBBS seats under any quota. When two vacancies arose under ST category, the seats were filled by admitting scheduled caste (SC) candidates ignoring backward tribe candidates.
Those two SC candidates, however, joined JIPMER giving rise to the vacancies again. Pointing out to the vacancies, the petitioners approached the HC seeking admission in the vacant seats.
The judge noted that Irular, Malaikuravan, Kattunayakan, Yerukula and Kuruman were removed from the category of MBC and brought under the BT category. BT communities were given 1% reservation in education. However, Irular community was separated from the list and given ST quota. This deprived the other four castes of reservation in medical admission.
There is absolutely no justification for not considering petitioners in any of the categories for admission to MBBS, the judge said, adding that when there is vacancy under ST quota, it is not filled by BT community candidates, but it is moved over to SCs and then to unreserved category.“This creates a situation where the candidates from backward tribes are not recognised as being eligible to opt for any of the reserved categories. There is thus no reservation provided to them to pursue medical education,” he said.
The question which begs an answer is where they would go if their government were to disown them and deny their lawful rights to seek a medical seat even if eligible, the judge said.Pointing out that Irular community alone, from a list of five backward tribes, was given reservation under ST quota, and that too without any data, the judge said, “... in the absence of any data, naturally when an ST seat falls vacant, it is only logical and lawful that the vacancies are filled by backward tribe communities. The Puducherry government should have exercised its discretion in this regard.”
Directing the government to provide admission to the petitioners under ST quota, Justice Karthikeyan expressed confidence that the government would not leave the BT community, which was created by it, high and dry. If it does so, it would be betrayal of its own natives (citizens).