Madras High Court upholds 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students in medical colleges

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the 7.5 per cent reservation of seats in medical colleges for government school students in Tamil Nadu.

The verdict regarding the reservation was pronounced by the bench headed by Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy.

The bench was hearing a batch of petitions filed by private school students challenging the constitutionality of the Tamil Nadu Admission to undergraduate courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on preferential basis to students of Government Schools Act, 2020.

The verdict comes as a big victory for the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu.

According to a report by Live Law, the impugned legislation grants a horizontal reservation of 7.5 per cent seats in medical colleges for students passing out of government schools in the state.

Reading out the verdict, the Bench said, "The constitutional validity of the 7.5 per cent reservation for govt school students in medical admission is upheld, the bench said in the order." It also directed the state government to review the quota in five years.

Also, the High Court, on Thursday, dismissed all the petitions challenging the reservation and seeking similar benefits.

During the hearing, the government said that the intent behind extending such a reservation was to uplift government school students who suffer from economic, social and educational backwardness.

It further said that the state government is competent and empowered to give such institutional preferences which has also been approved by the Supreme Court.

The government said according to the petitioners, the general category candidates has only 31 per cent seats available due to the 69 per cent reservation policy followed in the state. Now, it has been further pushed by the 7.5 per cent.

While passing the judgement, the High Court also directed the State to take appropriate steps to improve the quality of Government Schools within five years.

The order on the reservation will help the DMK government to ensure social justice. For the uninitiated, the quota was introduced by the previous AIADMK government but faced legal tests.

With inputs from agencies

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