The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the State to submit a written statement on whether students from other States were allotted State government quota seats in the NEET counselling conducted for MBBS admission, 2019-20.
Justice R. Suresh Kumar gave the direction after it was said that as many as 126 students from other States were allotted seats under the government quota.
The court wanted to know if the students were placed under the State quota or the All India quota.
Advocate K.K. Kannan, representing the petitioners in the case, argued that 126 students from other States were allotted seats earmarked for native students.
However, Additional Advocate General K. Chellapandian said that the contention raised needs to be verified and sought time to get instructions from the Selection Committee.
The court adjourned the hearing to July 30.
‘Denial of opportunity’
Four medical aspirants G. Somnath, K. Neya, V.C Ajithvass and A.M. Srilaya, in their separate petitions filed before the High Court Bench claimed that allowing students from other States to take part in the counselling would deny opportunity to local students.
They pointed out that the prospectus for government quota mandates that candidates should be a native of Tamil Nadu, while the one for management quota had no mention about the nativity of applicants. This would allow entry of other State students, they said.
They sought a direction to extend the domicile preference to management quota also.