The Madras High Court has held that marks obtained for participation in each sporting event would have to be considered for selection under the sports quota for MBBS course and not the current method of taking into account only the highest position obtained in a year as criteria for selection.
Justice P Jyothimani passed the order on a petition filed by B Praveena Devi, one of the four aspirants for a seat in the MBBS course for this academic year under the sports quota, challenging the selection process in Tamil Nadu.
“Inclusion of marks for each participation alone should be a justifiable criterion for the purpose of deciding a person eligible to be selected among the mentioned four persons,” the court observed.
If a stalemate persisted among the four persons, their academic excellence would have to be considered for selection.
The judge set aside the clause in the prospectus under which the highest achievement in only one sport discipline in a year would be considered for awarding marks to sports persons seeking admission under the sports quota of three seats.
The court directed the state health secretary and other authorities concerned to make the selections as per the order.
Ms. Praveena, a swimmer, had participated in swimming events at the state, zonal and national levels and won 114 medals in the last four years since 2005. She had also secured 95 per cent in biology and 93 per cent in physics.
