TN HC relief for MBBS aspirant, says aided school is govt school

MADURAI: Granting relief to a medical aspirant, Madras high court on Thursday held that an aided school in Thanjavur district is a government school according to the provisions 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,” taking into consideration that the school was managed by the district administration.
The court was hearing the petition filed by D Arun who sought admission in medical course under the Act. His request seeking bonafide certification that he studied in a government school was rejected by the chief educational officer on the ground that the school was an aided school. The petitioner underwent schooling from Class VI to XII in Rajah’s higher secondary school in Thanjavur district. He scored 238 marks in NEET and belongs to scheduled caste community whose parents eke out a living by running a pushcart eatery.
Justice G R Swaminathan observed that the question whether the school is a government school has to be answered by referring to its present position. The fact remains that its administration was vested in the district board which was abolished in 1961. Subsequently, it came under the control of the district administration. There is a school committee, but the Thanjavur district collector is its president and special tahsildar the secretary. The school no doubt has been treated as a private school under Tamil Nadu Recognized Private Schools (Regulation) Act and its staff are not government servants. But it is managed by the revenue department/district administration and is funded entirely by the government.
The judge said that expressions “Government schools” and “Students studied in government schools” have been defined in sections 2(c) and 2(d) of the Act. “Government schools” mean and includes government schools, corporation schools, municipal schools, adi dravidar and tribal welfare schools, kallar reclamation schools, forest department schools and other schools managed by government departments.
“The key word occurring in Section 2(c) is ‘managed by government departments’. This statutory definition will have to receive a purposive construction. The object of enacting this legislation is to extend the benefit of reservation to economically disadvantaged students who have passed out of government schools. Therefore, I have to adopt such a construction that would effectuate the legislative object,” observed the judge.
The judge said it was the special tahsildar who wrote to the education department seeking issuance of bonafide certificate certifying that the petitioner was a student who studied in government school. This clinches the issue in favour of the petitioner.
The judge said that when the petition came up for admission in December last year, the predecessor judge felt that the petitioner must be considered as a student who studied in government school and gave interim direction to keep one seat vacant. During counselling, the petitioner was allotted MBBS seat in Sivaganga medical college subject to the result of the writ petition. Since this 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.