[NEET-UG] Madras High Court upholds 7.5 per cent reservation for TN government school students

The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the Tamil Nadu government's move to introduce 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students in undergraduate medical courses..A Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and D Bharatha Chakravarthy upheld the quota in MBBS, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy courses in Tamil Nadu for students passing out from government schools..The High Court was hearing a challenge to the move introduced brought by the previous government in the State, led by the AIADMK. The plea had challenged the constitutional validity of the move and pointed out that it further dilutes the 31 per cent seats for general category students.Counsel for the State had submitted that the quota was not preferential, but one to address the structural inequality between students of private and public schools, as per a report in The Times of India. It was pointed out that the move was recommended by a committee formed to study the issue..The Central government in its affidavit filed on behalf of the Union Health Ministry opposed the quota, saying it dilutes the merit of the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions. It had submitted that the State's move cannot stand legally, as medical education is a subject on the Concurrent List and regulated by the Central government.Emphasising what it termed 'one nation, one merit', the affidavit had stated that any such 'artificial horizontal reservations' may create and incentivise an abnormal situation where students take admission in government schools for the sake of availing the quota..Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Sriram Panchu appeared for the State and the petitioners respectively. .A detailed copy of the order is awaited.