Chennai: The Madras High Court today gave three months time to decide on providing 50 per cent reservation to OBC category in medical studies in all India quota.
The court also directed the Central government to form a committee comprising representatives from the Centre, Tamilnadu government and the Medical Council of India to decide on the issue.
It observed that there was no legal restrictions in reserving 50 per cent for OBC and said the the minimum eligibility should be decided by the Central government and the Medical Council of India.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice A P Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said that the decision made by the committee will be applicable only from the next academic year.
The AIADMK had moved the Madras High Court seeking 50 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in medical seats surrendered by the State governments to the all India quota in non Central government colleges.
In the affidavit, Law Minister and AIADMK Villupuram district secretary C Ve Shanmugam said party founder M G Ramachandran had raised the reservations for OBCs from 31 to 50 per cent in the State.
Subsequently, late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa adopted a resolution in the State Assembly on 30 September, 1991 demanding the Centre too, provide reservations for OBCs.
He also credited Jayalalithaa for enacting the Tamilnadu 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 of 1993. She also obtained the presidential assent and included it in the ninth schedule of the Constitution.
Noting that OBCs have been grossly under-represented for the ‘past several academic years’ in the all India quota seats in undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma courses in medical colleges, Shanmugam said of the total 8,137 available PG seats under the All India quota in 2019, OBCs should get 27 per cent of the seats as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006.
Even as per this, they should have got 2,197 seats, but only 224 seats were allotted to OBCs in non Central institutions, he said and sought a direction to the Centre to reserve 50 per cent of the seats for OBCs in the All India quota for the academic year 2020-21.