Two medical course aspirants, both wards of defence personnel, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday seeking a direction to the State to include them under the reservation category for admission to MBBS/BDS courses for the current academic year.
In separate petitions, A. Priyanka from Thoothukudi district and K. Sukisha from Virudhunagar district said the Centre in 2017 prescribed inter se priority for reservation to the wards of armed forces personnel by States/Union Territories for admission to medical/ professional/ non-professional courses.
They said the wards of serving defence personnel were included in the priority category and listed as priority VIII of the nine priority categories on the list. Last year, the State had allotted seats only for the wards of ex-servicemen. This was against the very spirit of the order of the Defence Ministry, they said.
Apprehending that they could fail to secure medical seats this year too, the petitioners sought a direction to the State to include them under the reservation category for admission to medical courses.
Taking up the petitions for hearing, Justice S. Vaidyanathan ordered notice to the State and adjourned the case till November 2.