Retired Headmaster Moves Madras High Court Seeking Medical Admission Under 7.5% Reservation Quota

A retired Headmaster, S Munusamy has recently moved the Madras High Court seeking admission to the medical course under the benefit of 7.5% reservation quota for the government school students under the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on preferential basis to students of Government Schools Act, 2020. When the matter came up before Justice Dr. Anita Sumanth, Mr. Munusamy claimed that he has studied up to the 10th standard in a Government School, completing the 10th standard in 1976. Thereafter, he studied SSLC of one year (which is all the course provided for then) completing it in 1977. He did his PUC in Vivekananda College, completing it in 1978. He qualified in Botany completing his M.Phil. from the University of Madras in 1984, his B.Ed. from the Madurai Kamarajar University and M.Ed. from the Annamalai University. He joined the police services on 27.09.1987, but opted to serve as a teacher thereafter. He retired as a Headmaster in the Government Higher Secondary School, Velachery on 31.05.2017. When the authorities had previously removed his name from the second list, the petitioner had approached the court seeking a writ of mandamus for considering his candidature. The court had issued directions to the respondents to consider and dispose his representations. Based on the impugned order, the authorities rejected his request on the ground that the petitioner has not studied from the Sixth Standard to XII Standard in a Government School. Hence, this writ petition was filed. According to the Act, a student who has studied in government school is defined as Section 2(d) "Students studied in Government schools" mean children who have studied from Sixth Standard to Higher Secondary Course in a Government school and qualified in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test." According to the court, the petitioner has without a doubt cleared the second limb by scoring 348 marks in the NEET qualifying exam. The difficulty was in declaring that the petitioner did his schooling from sixth standard to higher secondary. The difficulty arises in so far as there is no equivalent ofHigher Secondary course in the era when the petitioner did his schooling and what was available then was only an SSLC of one year. The court, however, also noted that the petitioner has completed eleven years of study, which is the maximum possible at that time in a Government School and thus believed that he qualifies in letter and spirit for the benefit under Act.The court also opined that the fact that the admission process has been completed as of now, should not stand in the way, since a prima facie case is made out by the petitioner. The court thus directed the authorities to examine the feasibility of allotting a seat in the government college and to take necessary steps by the next date of hearing. Case Title: S.Munusamy v.The Secretary And Others. Case No: WP No. 8964 of 2022Click here to read/download order

Retired Headmaster Moves Madras High Court Seeking Medical Admission Under 7.5% Reservation Quota

Upasana Sajeev

Tags