SC permits Tamil Nadu to continue 50 pc reservation at super-speciality level in govt medical colleges

New Delhi [India], March 16 (ANI): Supreme Court on Wednesday granted permission to the Tamil Nadu government to continue providing reservation of 50 per cent seats at the super-speciality level in Government Medical Colleges to service doctors in the state.
The court noted there is no case made out for continuing the interim protection granted in 2020 relating to stopping the implementation of reservation in super-speciality.
A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said, “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 November 27, 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 the academic year 2021-2022 by taking into consideration the reservation provided by it as per the said Government Order,” the court said.
The court listed the matters for hearing after vacations.
Supreme Court was hearing a plea challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s decision pertaining to the reservation in the NEET super speciality.
The matter was argued by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, assisted by advocate Shankar Narayanan and Suhrith Parthasarathy.
The petition was filed by advocate on record, Rashmi Nandakumar.
The Court was hearing a petition challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s decision purporting to reserve 50 per cent seats at the Super Specialty level in Government Medical Colleges to doctors who are serving under the State of Tamil Nadu.
The petitioners, including N Karthikeyan, are candidates who have participated in the NEET-SS-2021 which was conducted on January 10, 2022. The results are expected to be released by the end of this month.
The petitioners said that the Tamil Nadu government’s decision dated November 7, 2020, is in clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution as it creates an impermissible classification, contrary to the law.
According to the petition, petitioners and other candidates have given the examination pursuant to the information bulletin which states that there is no special provision.
The Petitioners submitted that writ petitions have been filed in the Madras High Court seeking injunctions to enforce the government order to provide for reservations for the present academic year and the petitioner has filed an application for impleadment in the writ petition.
“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 petition said.
The Petitioners submitted that until the validity of the special provisions in the super speciality is determined by this Court and a uniform policy is drawn, no reservation can be created for in-service candidates at this level.
The Petitioners submitted that in any case, no such reservation can be created mid-way through the examination process.
Therefore, the petitioner has sought to declare the government order dated November 7, 2020, as unconstitutional being in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and to order that admissions pursuant to NEET-SS 2021 be conducted without providing reservations to in-service doctors. (ANI)