What about Ponnaiyah medical students: Madras HC

Chennai: The Madras high court has asked the state government to clarify as to whether it could accommodate the second year students of defunct Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Medical Sciences in Manamai Nallur in Kancheepuram district, in the Junior 2017-18 batch of second year students studying in the government medical colleges.

Posting to December 13, further hearing of a batch of petitions from second year students of Ponnaiyah medical college, Justice T.Raja orally asked AAG, Narmada Sampath, to give the above clarification.

When the petitions came up for hearing on Wednesday, Deans of two government medical colleges and a professor appeared before the judge and explained the difficulties in accommodating the students of Ponnaiyah college in the second year. Then, the judge asked the senior counsels appearing for the students to argue the case on merits.

Senior counsel S. Prabakaran submitted that as per the Essentiality Certificate issued by the state government, if anything happens to the college and it was closed down, the state government should take the responsibility of protecting the interest of the students. Several judgments of the high courts and Supreme Court say the state government should accommodate the students of the defunct college to the government medical colleges. It was not the fault of the students. They were all meritorious students. The court should take into account the interest and life of the students, he added.

Senior counsel Silambannan submitted that the state government was refusing to accommodate these students on the premise that the government colleges were overloaded since the students of another defunct Annai Medical college were already transferred to the government medical colleges. But, the present batch of students wants to join the 2017-18 batch, who have completed their first year and joined the second year in October 2018, he added.

Senior Counsel P.Wilson submitted that the state government says these students will be accommodated in Self Financing Medical Colleges, which cannot be done. The Self Financing Medical colleges do not have sufficient clinical materials (patients) but government medical have them.

The state government wanted to accommodate 36 students in a deemed university. Was it not a burden for that college? When the government was ready to create more seats and accommodate these students in August 2019, why not now. These students want to join with the junior second year students of 2017-18 batch, which has just started. They may lose two or three months but they will make up the attendance. It was not moral responsibility. It was a legal responsibility of the government to accommodate these students in government medical colleges. The state has to bear the burden. Instead of one teacher, it can provide 2 teachers. The government cannot say accommodating 4 students was a burden, Wilson added.