NEET quota for govt students: Guv to consult experts

NEET quota for govt students: Guv to consult experts

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 01.07.2020

A fortnight ago the Tamil Nadu cabinet cleared a proposal to provide horizontal reservation for government school students from this academic year. It is now learnt that governor Banwarilal Purohit has been consulting legal experts on the constitutional validity of the scheme. The ordinance is pending before the governor.

The cabinet passed the ordinance after Justice P Kalaiyarasan committee in its report submitted recently pointed to the huge disparities in the socio-economic status of the students of government and private schools. Only four students from government schools got admitted under government quota during 2018-19 and five during 2019-20, while there was nil in 2017-18 when the NEET was first introduced. Only five students were admitted under management quota in the last three years. While 40% government school students passed every year, only 0.1% of the total seats in medical institutions were available to them.

Purohit will ascertain the constitutional propriety of the ordinance before giving his assent. “The state government has passed the ordinance based on sound logic and the governor is critically examining it. The state has requested for an early decision so that students of the current year get the benefit,” government sources told TOI. The new academic year will begin soon.

The government also presented to the governor the committee’s report favouring quota for the students. While 10% horizontal quota was planned initially, the government settled for 7.5% before reaching out to the governor for clearance. The quota is being considered in the private medical colleges too. The horizontal reservations cut across the vertical reservation granted for SC/ST/OBC and general category students.

The EPS government is facing flak for not getting clearance for two bills passed unanimously in the state assembly – the Tamil Nadu Admission to MBBS and BDS Courses Bill, 2017 and the Tamil Nadu Admission to Post Graduate Courses in Medicine and Dentistry, seeking exemption from the national competitive examinations for medical admission.