The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the Directorate of Medical Education not to finalise results of the ongoing counselling for medical and dental PG degree/diploma courses held under the Tamil Nadu State quota. The four-day counselling forcandidates who qualified through NEET began on April 1.
Justice R. Mahadevan, allowing the counselling to continue, directed that results shall not be finalised for a period of two weeks and adjourned the hearing till then. The court was hearing the writ petition filed by P. Jeyakumar of Madurai, who sought a direction to restrain the Directorate of Medical Education from going ahead with PG counselling.
The petitioner, an Assistant Surgeon, challenged the government order issued by the Health and Family Welfare department in March 2019 awarding 10% of NEET marks secured by Medical Officers working under the Tamil Nadu Public Health Services as incentive for securing a PG seat.
The grievance of the petitioner was that the GO categorised ‘difficulty of areas of work’ for the purpose of granting incentives. Candidates working at difficult areas in hills were eligible for 10% of marks secured in NEET per year of service. Similarly, it was nine per cent marks for working in difficult areas in plains, eight per cent for remote areas and five per cent for rural areas.
Dr. Jeyakumar, currently employed at the Government Rajaji Hospital, said that this would adversely affect the chances of medical officers working in municipal and corporation areas, which are excluded from the purview of granting incentive marks. He sought to restrain the Directorate of Medical Education from going ahead with the counselling.
EOM
