The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Petition challenging notification excluding State quota dismissed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 15, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Petition challenging notification excluding State quota dismissed

Special Correspondent

Matter pertains to Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition seeking a direction to call for records pertaining to an impugned notification of the Selection Committee, Directorate of Medical Education, excluding government quota in Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Kelambakkam, Padur, and quash it.

The petition had also sought a consequent direction to the committee and the research institute to allot the accepted 83 seats in government quota in the institute for academic year 2008-09.

In its public interest litigation petition, Tmt. K. Rajammal Memorial Charity Trust, Chennai, said that in the past there was only one counselling for admission to government colleges and self-financing colleges. Last year, 1,645 were selected in government colleges and 345 in government quota seats in self-financing colleges.

But, this year, counselling was conducted only for government colleges from July 4 to 8. Candidates were in the dark about the government quota in self-financing colleges. After the press highlighted the issue, the committee announced that counselling would be held from August 12 to 14. For reasons best known to authorities, counselling for government quota in self-financing colleges was postponed to this month. A few days ago, the committee and the institute announced that it had obtained ‘Deemed to be University’ status from the Centre. This affected several brilliant, poor students. The government quota was meant to eradicate disability for qualified poor students.

The selection committee declared that the institution would not be included in the seat matrix for allotment of candidates for MBBS course under the self-financing category during counselling on August 13.

In its order, the First Bench, comprising Chief Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, said the petitioner was not aggrieved over the grant of deemed university status to the institution. In that view of the matter, the consequences contemplated in the notification could not be interfered with by the court. Therefore, the Bench said it could not pass any order in favour of the petitioner.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu