CHENNAI: The academic calendar in Tamil Nadu is never complete without hard-fought court battles over issues ranging from wrong key answers, to abolition of entrance examination and improvement examination.
This year, the contours of a brewing dispute are set to test the nerves of students, parents, administrators and the government alike. With fears of about 50% of available MBBS seats going to Class 12 students from previous years, top-scoring students of 2014-15 batch have rushed to the Madras high court crying foul.
The legal process may have come a wee bit too late for the fresh batch of Class 12 students, who see themselves as victims of a tough set of question papers and stringent evaluation resulting in a big dip scores including centums.
"Let us face it. It is settled law that a prospectus is a document binding on both sides — students as well as the government. Neither can the government introduce an amendment nor can students demand changes after going through the process. As of now, prospectus for medical education specifies only minimum age — 17 years — for candidates participating in counselling, but there is no upper age limit. So there is no rule stopping previous year students from participating in counselling this year, taking advantage of comparatively lower cut-off mark position," explained a government advocate.
Countering this, advocates being consulted by students of the present batch say it is never too late to stop an injustice. Citing the Supreme Court's Monday order scrapping the all-India pre-medical test, a senior jurist said: "If courts are convinced that treating students from more than one batch as equals and permitting them to take part in counselling will undermine fundamental right to equality, then they can stop it even at the eleventh hour. At the same time, the concept of legitimate expectation would come into play in favour of previous year students."
When there is no rule barring their participation, introducing a new clause now would amount to shifting the goalpost during the game, conceded another lawyer, saying, "there is enough elbow room to correct the anomaly, but the order can be put to effect only prospectively."
In 2005, abolition of common entrance test for all undergraduate programmes including MBBS gave sleepless nights to those supporting and opposing the policy decision. In 2006, a government move doing away with the improvement examination system was source of anxiety to several thousands. This year, till the last MBBS seat is allotted, students coming within the zone of consideration, will have to spend sleepless nights.
This year, the contours of a brewing dispute are set to test the nerves of students, parents, administrators and the government alike. With fears of about 50% of available MBBS seats going to Class 12 students from previous years, top-scoring students of 2014-15 batch have rushed to the Madras high court crying foul.
The legal process may have come a wee bit too late for the fresh batch of Class 12 students, who see themselves as victims of a tough set of question papers and stringent evaluation resulting in a big dip scores including centums.
"Let us face it. It is settled law that a prospectus is a document binding on both sides — students as well as the government. Neither can the government introduce an amendment nor can students demand changes after going through the process. As of now, prospectus for medical education specifies only minimum age — 17 years — for candidates participating in counselling, but there is no upper age limit. So there is no rule stopping previous year students from participating in counselling this year, taking advantage of comparatively lower cut-off mark position," explained a government advocate.
Countering this, advocates being consulted by students of the present batch say it is never too late to stop an injustice. Citing the Supreme Court's Monday order scrapping the all-India pre-medical test, a senior jurist said: "If courts are convinced that treating students from more than one batch as equals and permitting them to take part in counselling will undermine fundamental right to equality, then they can stop it even at the eleventh hour. At the same time, the concept of legitimate expectation would come into play in favour of previous year students."
When there is no rule barring their participation, introducing a new clause now would amount to shifting the goalpost during the game, conceded another lawyer, saying, "there is enough elbow room to correct the anomaly, but the order can be put to effect only prospectively."
In 2005, abolition of common entrance test for all undergraduate programmes including MBBS gave sleepless nights to those supporting and opposing the policy decision. In 2006, a government move doing away with the improvement examination system was source of anxiety to several thousands. This year, till the last MBBS seat is allotted, students coming within the zone of consideration, will have to spend sleepless nights.
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