HC affirms 7.5% quota seat for boy

Madurai: The Madras HC has confirmed an order of a single judge who directed to provide a medical seat to a student from Thanjavur under Neet 7.5% quota, holding an aided school as a government school as it was managed by the district administration.

The court also directed the state government to take a call as to whether similar schools can be given the benefit of the Neet 7.5% quota, so that there will be some clarity from the next academic year. A medical aspirant D Arun filed a petition seeking to admit him in a medical course under 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 single judge said the Rajah higher secondary school at Thanjavur in which the petitioner studied is presently managed by the district administration. The judge had said that since the court held that the school in which the petitioner studied is a government school within the meaning of Section 2(c) of the Act, the seat allocation made in favour of the petitioner is made absolute.

Challenging the order, the state government had preferred this present appeal. A division bench of justices M M Sundresh and S Ananthi said that the student belongs to the scheduled caste community and his parents are pushcart vendors. The judges observed that though they are of the prima facie view that the school in question cannot be termed as a government school in the strict sense, they do not wish to overturn the ultimate relief granted by the single judge.

The judges observed that the student has joined the college and therefore, at this stage, it is not feasible to allow the appeal, as no other candidate would be benefited, since the cut-off date is already over. Hence, the judges disposed of the appeal.


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