SC Denies Quota for Admissions in Super Speciality Medical Courses; Check Details Here

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered Tamil Nadu and Kerala to conduct the counselling for super-specialty medical courses without providing reservations for in-service doctors.

According to Justice.L.Nageswara Rao, one of the judges who delivered the judgment, there is no way to stop the admission process right now. The SC dictated that the counselling process should keep going without any delays.

Rao stated that the counseling is already in its final stages and hence the SC cannot permit reservation for this year.

However, the Bench refused to comment on the validity of the order of Tamil Nadu Government which permitted a 50% in-service quota in super-specialty medical courses in the state.

This case was challenged by some NEET qualified doctors when the Madras High Court refused to intervene on their plea.

C.S.Vaidyanathan represented the Tamil Nadu government and said that there were a total of 369 super specialty medical seats in the state. However, 70% of qualified doctors would leave the state. According to him, at least the in-service doctors would at least serve in the state till their retirement.

Senior Advocate P Wilson said that matters of this kind have been settled again and again. The current judgment did not have any opinion on the law itself, with SC reserving its order on that.

The Supreme Court said that it would hear about that matter in detail in February 2021. Meanwhile they directed the admission process to continue without in-service reservations for this year.

The SC observed that the process for admissions started on August 3. At that time, it was made clear to all applicants that there was no provision for reservation.

Thus, the government order reserving 50% seats for in-service doctors would be detrimental to the future of many meritorious doctors.

For Kerala, the court said that the state government was unable to implement the Service Quota Act of 2008, which granted 40% reservation to in-service doctors in super specialty courses.