Tuesday, May 22, 2018

HC talks tough on medical admissions 

Special Correspondent 

 
CHENNAI, May 22, 2018 00:00 IST


Not an option:Simply because candidates have been admitted in other States, they cannot say they should be considered under State quota, the court held.M. PRABHU 


Says All India PG quota allottees have no right to seek admission under State quota too

Doctors who had been allotted postgraduate degree or diploma seats under the all India quota cannot claim a right to participate in the counselling held for State quota seats too in an attempt to gain admission into a better course and a better institution in their home State, the Madras High Court has held.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam passed the ruling while dismissing a batch of 17 writ petitions filed by candidates who were aggrieved against non-inclusion of their names in the State merit list for the academic year 2018-19 since they had already been allotted seats in other States under the all India quota.

After finding that regulations governing the subject do not confer any right on candidates to select a course or institute of their choice, the judge said: “Choice/option can neither be claimed as a matter of right nor such a choice granted to the students be construed as a legal right so as to claim a PG medical seat based on such a choice before the court of law.”

Extracting the dictionary meaning of the term ‘choice,’ the judge said: “Thus, choice is a chance and can never be a legal right. Choice of a branch or choice of a medical institution is subject to the availability of seats in a particular branch and subject to the availability of such a branch in a particular medical institution. “It is not as if admission to PG medical courses has been denied to these batch of writ petitioners... Simply because they have been admitted in other States, they cannot say that once again they must be considered for the admission under the State quota in courses and institutions of their own choice and as per their wishes.”

‘Open more colleges’

Though counselling for the all India quota as well as the State quota seats ought to have taken place contiguously, the judge accepted the explanation offered by government advocate K. Karthikeyan that this year there was a delay in releasing the State list due to the interim orders passed by the court in another batch of cases related to grant of incentive marks to government doctors.

At the same breath, observing that meritorious students should not get disillusioned due to their inability to gain admission into a better course and institute, Mr. Justice Subramanian reminded the Centre as well as the State government of their duty to establish adequate number of medical colleges. “The intellectual calibre of the young minds of our great nation are undoubtedly vibrant, and numerous students are now aspiring to secure seats to undergo medical courses in distinct branches... This court is of an opinion that starting more medical institutions is imminent on account of the current needs of our nation,” he concluded.

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