Centre to Madras HC: Medical quota for govt students will affect merit – Times of India

CHENNAI: Setting the stage for a fresh round of political slugfest, the BJP government at the Centre has opposed exclusive reservation for government school students in MBBS/BDS admissions under NEET.
It will not “be desirable,” said the Union home ministry when a related case came up before the Madras high court for hearing. “Any artificial, horizontal reservation is likely to create abnormal incentives/disincentives affecting pre-medical education…” it said.
Noting that NEET provided uniform national standards on the principle of one nation one merit list, the Centre said the proposal of the Puducherry administration to provide quota in medical courses for government school students diluted the merit principle. Such demands would undo merit-based admission reform, the Centre said.
The Centre filed the counter in response to a plea moved by a student seeking a direction to the Union government to approve 10% horizontal reservation for students from government schools in Puducherry for admissions to medical courses.
Counsel for petitioner senior advocate P Wilson, who took strong exception to it, said the central government was belittling the 7.5% reservation policy adopted by Tamil Nadu. The Centre, denying that it was sitting on the reference from the union territory, said the 7.5% reservation provided for government school students to medical admission in Tamil Nadu had been provided through state legislation and that no reference had been made to the Centre for information/concurrence in the matter.
Asserting that such reservation may lead to similar or other demands from other states, it said
After the Puducherry cabinet approved the exclusive reservation and forwarded the same to lieutenant-governor Kiran Bedi, she referred the matter to the central government on the ground that she differed with the view of the elected Puducherry government.
Claiming that the Centre is sitting on the reference made on November 6, 2020 without taking a decision, the present plea was for a direction to the Centre to approve the reservation.
When the plea came up for hearing before Justice B Pugalendhi on Thursday, a limited reply was filed by the Centre through Ravi Ranjan, deputy commandant, union ministry of home affairs.
Denying that the reference is kept pending indefinitely, the reply said this ministry had acted promptly on the reference made by the LG and the CM of Puducherry and had sought inter-ministerial consultations for taking an informed decision.
“It is pertinent to mention here that the ministry of health vide an office memorandum dated December 10, 2020 while disagreeing with the proposal for granting horizontal reservation to students from government schools in the state quota seats in admission to medical courses conveyed that medical education is under concurrent list,” the reply said.
Since the Centre sought further time to take a decision on the reference made, the judge adjourned the hearing to February 25.