The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the State governments to come out with a viable scheme to ensure that the wards of serving defence personnel are also ensured of medical seats under the reservation category for wards of armed forces personnel.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugalendhi observed that as per the order passed by the Ministry of Defence, admission to medical courses for the wards of armed forces personnel was prioritised under nine categories. If the seats were to be allotted as per the priority category, it will be exhausted by the wards of ex-servicemen.
The wards of ex-servicemen were placed higher on the priority category when compared to that of the wards of serving defence personnel. When the number of medical colleges and seats in the State had gone up, it must be ensured that the children of serving defence personnel also get medical seats, the judges said.
The court pointed to the fact that as per a notification passed as early as 1979, the six medical seats reserved for the wards of armed forces personnel then was equally distributed among the children of deceased servicemen, ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel in the armed forces.
Now the seats have been increased from six to 11 seats - 10 for MBBS and one for BDS. When this being the case, there must be an equal distribution in order to boost the morale of the wards of serving defence personnel and ensure that they are not affected. The case was adjourned to December 3 for filing the responses.
