The   previous   AIADMK   government   had  provided  7.5  per  cent  horizontal  reservation   on   a   priority   basis   for   NEET-qualified students from government schools in the MBBS admissions in  the  state  after  it  was  recommended  by  a  commission  headed  by  retired  High Court Judge P Kalaiyarasan.

Similarly,   the   new   DMK   government too formed a panel led by retired and  former  Delhi  High  Court  Judge  D  Murugesan to improve the representation  of  government  school  students  in  professional courses such as engineering, polytechnic, law, agriculture, veterinary and fisheries among others.

The  government  decision  to  constitute   a   committee   came   against   the   backdrop of reports that in the technical  agriculture,  veterinary,  fisheries  and in law admissions for the last few years,  lesser  number  of  government  school students are getting admissions to state quota seats in universities, reputed self-financing colleges and state-run colleges.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity said, “the expert committee had already  conducted  three  review  meetings  to  come  out  with  a  reservation  formula.”Claiming  that  the  panel,  also  comprising  experts  from  various  government  departments  and  universities  as  members,  is  in  the  process  of  compiling  the  data,  the  official  said,  “the  re-port is expected to be submitted to the state within two weeks.

”“As  the  admissions  to  the  professional  courses  were  expected  to  start  after July 31 as per the government or-der,”  he  said  adding  “the  government  is  very  keen  to  introduce  the  horizontal reservation for the students to join professional courses (other than medicine) as soon as possible.”