The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to respond to a plea challenging the exclusion of government aided private school students from the benefit of 7.5% horizontal reservation accorded to government school students in medical admissions.
Justices R. Subbiah and C. Saravanan granted time till January 5 for the government to file its counter affidavit to the public interest litigation petition filed by Tamil Nadu Catholic Educational Association, an umbrella organisation that runs 2,286 government aided schools.
Appearing on behalf of the association, Senior Counsel Rev. Fr. Xavier Arulraj argued that the extension of the benefit of reservation only to government school students and not to those studying in government aided institutions was ex-facie improper and arbitrary.
He told the court that all 2,286 government aided schools under the petitioner association were Tamil medium institutions and most of them pre-date Independence. Apart from these institutions, numerous unaided schools and colleges were also run under the association.
This year, the State legislature had enacted the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on Preferential basis to Students of Government Schools Act of 2020 to give 7.5% horizontal reservations.
The Act defined ‘government schools’ to mean those run directly by the government, corporation schools, municipal schools, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare schools, Kallar Reclamation schools, Forest Department schools and other schools managed by government departments.
Mr. Arulraj contended that the Act was discriminatory since it had completely ignored Tamil medium government aided private school students who were on a par, both socially and educationally, with those studying in government and corporation schools.
