TN Assembly unanimously passes 7.5% quota for govt school students in UG medical courses

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the Bill introduced by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to provide 7.5 percent horizontal reservation in undergraduate courses in medicine, dentistry, Indian medicine and homeopathy for government school students who have cleared NEET. It would not apply to seats reserved for the all-India quota. In due course, the state government will notify the rules for executing this legislation.

The principal opposition party DMK said this should be only a beginning and this reservation should be increased in the coming years while Law Minister CVe Shanmugam clarified that the reservation system would be followed for the 7.5 percent quota. He also said the 7.5 percent reservation would withstand the test of the law in the light of recent Supreme Court verdicts which ruled that the state government which has powers to provide reservations also has powers to provide sub-quotas.

"Students from government schools shall also be entitled to compete for the government seats, other than those set apart on a preferential basis, along with students from private schools," said a provision in the legislation.

The Chief Minister said due to this sub-quota, over 300 medical seats will go to students hailing from poor economic backgrounds. Those who studied from the sixth standard to higher secondary schools in Corporation schools, municipal schools, Adi Dravidar and tribal welfare schools, Kalla reclamation schools, forest department schools and other schools managed by the government departments would benefit from this reservation.

Explaining the justification for providing sub-quota, the Chief Minister said, "Of the 7,968 higher secondary schools in the state, 3,054 schools (38.32 percent) have been run by the government. Of the 8.41 lakh students in higher secondary courses, 3.44 lakh students (41 percent) were in government-run schools. Of the 5,550 medical seats in Tamil Nadu, 4,043 are of state quota. Of this, only 0.15 percent of seats have been given to students hailing from poor economic backgrounds who study in government schools."

Stating that students from government schools and those studying in private schools hail from different socio-economic backgrounds, the Chief Minister said considering these disparities, it would be unfair to weigh them on an equal footing. "Though students from government schools clear the NEET, they are not getting a sufficient number of medical seats. Hence, this sub-quota becomes necessary," he added.

Speaking on the Bill, the Chief Minister said between the period 2006-07 to 2010-11, around 300 new medical seats were created. On the contrary, during the past nine years alone, 1,400 more medical seats have been created in Tamil Nadu by starting new medical colleges. During 2010-11, the total number of medical seats stood at 1,945 in Tamil Nadu. This had now gone up to 3,345. To help rural students join medical courses easily, 11 more medical colleges were being established in the state. Through this measure alone, 1,650 more medical seats would be created in Tamil Nadu in the coming years, he added.

DMK MLA R Masilamani said since the state government had admitted that admissions secured by students from government schools to MBBS courses in Tamil Nadu had become dismally poor after a uniform entrance examination was introduced, the 7.5 percent reservation would only be a nominal reservation for government school students. This should go up steeply in the coming years, he said and demanded that the reservation system should be fully followed for providing this 7.5 percent quota so that social justice could be protected by this move.

Masilamani further said this sub-quota should be extended to students studying in government-aided schools too. Stating that definitely someone would challenge this sub-quota before a court,
Masilamani urged the state government to strengthen this legislation with appropriate safeguards so that it could withstand any legal challenges since the earlier effort by former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to provide special reservation for rural students was rejected by the court.

The Bill said a commission headed by retired judge P Kalaiyarasan recommended that 10 percent of seats could be reserved for students of government schools and after considering many factors, the state Cabinet approved 7.5 percent reservation for these students.