Tamil Nadu: 85 per cent quota in medical admission quashed

Chennai: The Madras high court on Friday quashed an order of the state government, which earmarked 85 per cent of seats available in the state quota to the students who have studied in Tamil Nadu state board and the remaining 15 per cent to students who have studied in CBSE and other boards for admission to MBBS/BDS courses for the academic year 2017-18. The court held that it amounted to discrimination among equals and thus, it violated Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Holding that the GO and the relevant clause of the prospectus of MBBS/BDS admission 2017-18 dealing with the reservation are bad in law and they cannot be sustained, Justice K. Ravichandra Baabu quashed the same while allowing a batch of over 50 petitions from V.S.Sai Sachin and other CBSE students.

The judge directed authorities to prepare a fresh merit list and conduct the counseling accordingly.

 The judge said, “It is for the state to take all steps to equip students of state board to compete with the other students from the other boards, by providing all facilities and conducting coaching classes all over the state. Without doing so meticulously, now the government cannot take shelter under the guise of policy decision and issue the GO, thereby, undoubtedly, diluting the merits for admission”.

Tamil Nadu to appeal against High court order
Tamil Nadu government will certainly appeal before a larger bench of the Madras high court against the verdict by a single-bench judge quashing a GO reserving 85 per cent of MBBS and BDS seats for state board students, health minister C. Vijayabhaskar said on Friday.

Neet 2017 exam can’t be nullified: SC 
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to “nullify" the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet) 2017 exam, saying it would affect over six lakh candidates who have passed the test to join medical and dental courses.