AIADMK moves SC for 50% reservation for OBCs in medical courses in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu's ruling party AIADMK has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to implement 50% reservation for the OBC in undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma medical seats of the all India quota as per mandate of the state law.

A writ petition, filed by party leader and state law minister C Ve Shanmugham, contended that denying reservation in State-surrendered seats to the all-India quota (other than central educational institutions) was unconstitutional, and violative of the basic feature of the Constitution. This was also ultra vires Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.

The petitioner maintained that the party has a long history as a vanguard for the rights of oppressed and socially disadvantaged groups.

It pointed out that the AIADMK government, led by J Jayalalithaa, after many struggles, managed to obtain Presidential sanction for the inclusion on the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of appointments or posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993, which provided for 50% reservation for OBCs (besides 18% for SCs and 1% for STs), into the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

However, the petitioner contended that in the past several academic years, OBCs have been grossly underrepresented in the all India quota seats in undergraduate, diploma, PG diploma and postgraduate medical colleges across the country.

In 2018-19, only 220 OBC candidates were admitted to postgraduate courses while they had a claim over 2,152 of the 7,982 seats.

Only 66 OBC students were admitted under the all India quota to the undergraduate course. There are 4,061 such MBBS seats, of which 50% (2030) should have been filled with OBC candidates.

For the year 2020, out of 9550 seats under all India quota, 8800 seats are surrendered from the colleges run by the state governments. Of these 8800 seats, OBCs are not given any reservation (only zero) and the seats are transferred to the general category, which is unjustified and unconstitutional, it claimed.

"The Union government is neither following its own policy of 27% reserved seats for OBCs under the 2006 Act nor the state government mandates regarding OBC reservation in the allocation of seats. This has resulted in OBCs being robbed off of 10,000 seats in the last three years at least and many more during the preceding years," it alleged.

The petitioner further stated that there cannot be any justification for excluding reservation for OBCs in state-captured seats in the all India quota and that the consecutive lapses was a fraud on the Constitution.

The party sought a direction to the Centre, MCI and DGHS and others to implement 50% OBC reservations in Tamil Nadu in the state-surrendered seats in the all India quota for all undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses for the year 2020-2021.

According to the Medical Council of India’s Regulations, 199, 15% of seats in all undergraduate medical colleges and 50% in all postgraduate medical colleges are surrendered to the all India quota.

Earlier, CPI(M) state secretary also filed a petition against denial of reservation in all India quota seats in medical courses in Tamil Nadu.