Taking steps for OBC reservation under all-India quota of MBBS and dental seats: TN

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said all steps were being taken to get reservation for Other Backward Classes under the all-India (AIQ) quota of medical and dental seats.

The government impleaded itself in the Saloni Kumari case on quota for OBCs in AIQ in the Supreme Court after writing twice to the Centre urging it to implement the reservation for OBCs, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said.

Also, for the seats surrendered by Tamil Nadu for the AIQ, a petition seeking implementation of the state's reservation model of 50 percent quota for OBCs (30 percent for OBCs and 20 percent for Most Backward Communities) was separately filed in the apex court, he said in a statement. On this plea, the top court directed Tamil Nadu to approach the High Court and a petition was filed accordingly.

Besides this legal initiative, the government has again filed a petition in the Supreme Court on July 2 seeking 50 percent reservation, the Minister said.

The government continues to strongly oppose NEET and even on Wednesday, Chief Minister K Palaniswami, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, called for medical admissions based on class 12 marks since conducting NEET during the pandemic was difficult, he said.

Palaniswami has also urged Modi to not include salary and farm income for determining the "creamy layer" among the OBCs.

"Amma's government will forever be a fortress in protecting the welfare of the backward classes," he said.

The Tamil Nadu government does not exclude creamy layer and follows 69 percent reservation for employment and admission in educational institutions.

The Centre had informed the Madras High Court it is unlikely to admit students of OBC under AIQ for medical seats in all government institutions unless the Supreme Court comprehensively settles the pending issue. Since 1986, OBC medical aspirants were being accommodated in AIQ seats in central institutions only, and not in all state government colleges, it said.

Taking a dig at political parties pleas before the court, the Centre said: "The method has been followed even when most of the petitioners (political parties) were in power through their alliance in the past." A submission to this effect was made by the Centre, in response to a batch of PILs filed by major political parties, including the DMK, AIADMK and PMK. Pointing out that AIQ pool seats comprise 15 percent of all MBBS seats and 50 percent of PG medical seats surrendered by state governments to the Centre, these parties have been demanding 50 percent reservation of seats for OBC students, as per the 69 percent reservation formula in Tamil Nadu