Coming down on the Tamil Nadu government for not having brought to the knowledge of the Supreme Court that it had filled up 15% of the all-India quota (filled through NEET) medical seats going by the State merit list last year, the Madras High Court in a recent order hoped that the State government would immediately move the apex court and seek appropriate directions on the issue.
The observation of a Division Bench came on a batch of writ appeals filed by medical aspirants, who had appeared in NEET 2016. They had prayed for a direction to the authorities to grant them admission against the vacant seats, which were reverted to the State pool from the 15% all-India pool. They had filed appeals against a single judge’s order. The Advocate General, however, submitted that after the all-India pool seats were filled by following the NEET-based merit ranking as and when candidates opted out of such admission leaving the seats vacant, the seats would automatically revert to the State pool.
The court was not convinced by the submission. “We express our unhappiness about State not participating in the inquiry before the Supreme Court. It ought to have brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that it has filled vacant seats from 15% All India Quota by adopting the State criteria of admission, but not based on All India merit ranking of NEET,” a Division Bench comprising Justices Nooty Ramamohana Rao and S.M. Subramaniam observed.
