Govt blamed for poor academic standard of state board students
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A Subramani & Pushpa Narayan
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Chennai
TNN
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Striking down the Tamil Nadu
government's 85%-15% formula for state board and CBSE students
respectively for MBBSBDS admissions lock, stock and barrel on Friday ,
the Madras high court has charged the state government with utter
non-application of mind.
Justice K Ravichandrabaabu, describing the
June 22 government order (GO) as `totally unreasonable,' said it was the
state government which should take the blame for the poor academic
standard of state board students.
“I do not think that the inability of the state board students to equip themselves can be a justifiable reason to overlook the meritorious students of other boards to get admission into professional courses.It is not in dispute that the syllabus of NEET was prepared much earlier and made public as early as in the year 2010-11. It is seen that the syllabus is prepared by Medical Council of India and not by CBSE. Therefore, it is for the state government to take all steps to equip the students of state board to compete with students from other boards, by providing all facilities and conducting coaching classes etc. Without doing so meticulously , now the government cannot take shelter under the guise of policy decision and issue the impugned GO, thereby , diluting the merits for admission,“ observed Justice Ravichandrabaabu. He was passing orders on a batch of writ petitions filed by students who had studied Class XII under CBSE board. It was their contention that the state ought not to discriminate between students of state board and the CBSE, especially when the qualifying examination to MBBSBDS admission was common to all. The impugned 85:15 quota denied reasonable opportunity for CBSE students to compete for admission in respect of all the seats. There cannot be reservation, amounting to discrimination, among equals, they argued.
The government said syllabus for the exam was in CBSE pattern and that out of top 300 seats, only 76 would go to students from state board.That is, while 28% seats would go to state board students, 72% would go to CBSE students, it said. Bright state board students would, thus, be denied of the opportunity to study in top government medical colleges.
Rejecting the arguments, Justice Ravichandrabaabu said though NEET was meant to offer a level playing field, the GO tried to give preference to lesser meritorious students of state board. “The state allowed students to take part in NEET.Now, it cannot change game plan after the game has started,“ said the judge. Justice Ravichandrabaabu said, “ What is sought to be done by the impugned GO is nothing but an institutional reservation.“
“I do not think that the inability of the state board students to equip themselves can be a justifiable reason to overlook the meritorious students of other boards to get admission into professional courses.It is not in dispute that the syllabus of NEET was prepared much earlier and made public as early as in the year 2010-11. It is seen that the syllabus is prepared by Medical Council of India and not by CBSE. Therefore, it is for the state government to take all steps to equip the students of state board to compete with students from other boards, by providing all facilities and conducting coaching classes etc. Without doing so meticulously , now the government cannot take shelter under the guise of policy decision and issue the impugned GO, thereby , diluting the merits for admission,“ observed Justice Ravichandrabaabu. He was passing orders on a batch of writ petitions filed by students who had studied Class XII under CBSE board. It was their contention that the state ought not to discriminate between students of state board and the CBSE, especially when the qualifying examination to MBBSBDS admission was common to all. The impugned 85:15 quota denied reasonable opportunity for CBSE students to compete for admission in respect of all the seats. There cannot be reservation, amounting to discrimination, among equals, they argued.
The government said syllabus for the exam was in CBSE pattern and that out of top 300 seats, only 76 would go to students from state board.That is, while 28% seats would go to state board students, 72% would go to CBSE students, it said. Bright state board students would, thus, be denied of the opportunity to study in top government medical colleges.
Rejecting the arguments, Justice Ravichandrabaabu said though NEET was meant to offer a level playing field, the GO tried to give preference to lesser meritorious students of state board. “The state allowed students to take part in NEET.Now, it cannot change game plan after the game has started,“ said the judge. Justice Ravichandrabaabu said, “ What is sought to be done by the impugned GO is nothing but an institutional reservation.“
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