Medical aspirant secures seat on court’s direction

He moved HC for admission to medical course under 7.5% horizontal quota

January 08, 2021 09:29 pm | Updated 09:29 pm IST - MADURAI

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has held that an aided school in Thanjavur district came within the meaning of a government school under Section 2(c) of the Tamil Nadu Act 34, 2020, in view of the fact that it was managed by the Revenue Department/district administration.

The court was hearing the writ petition filed by D. Arun of Thanjavur district who sought to be considered eligible for medical admission under 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students who had cleared NEET. His request for issue of certificate that he had studied in a government school was denied by authorities.

Justice G.R. Swaminathan took into account the fact that the Thanjavur Collector was the president of the school committee, the Special Tahsildar was the secretary, and the other committee members included officials of the district administration. It was entirely funded by the government, the judge observed.

The judge said the school no doubt had been treated as a private school under the Tamil Nadu Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 1973. The staff were not government servants. But, the fact remained that it was managed by the Revenue Department/district administration.

The school came within the ambit of Section 2(c) of the 2020 Act that defined government schools and students who had studied in government schools as it was managed by a ‘government department’, the judge said.

The Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on Preferential basis to Students of Government Schools Act, 2020, was enacted to extend the benefit of reservation to economically disadvantaged students. The definition under the Act would have to receive a purposive construction.

Taking note of the fact that the High Court had earlier directed the authorities to consider the candidate for admission to MBBS course, and subsequently the candidate had secured a seat at Government Sivagangai Medical College, the seat allocation in his favour was made absolute, the judge said.

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