inner banner
Allotment of MBBS Seats in Tamil Nadu on hold


CHENNAI:
The MBBS admission process is likely to be delayed this year with the Madras high court on Friday making it clear that though counselling could go on as scheduled, no allotment of seat could be made to students till Monday. The week-long counselling for the 2,200-odd MBBS seats began on Friday. "Keeping in mind the urgency, and that so many students are involved, we will certainly not permit you to go ahead with the process. Counselling can be done, but do not take a decision, do not commit (yourself). We are not stopping the entire process. You can go ahead with counselling, but no admission can be made till Monday," said a division bench headed by Justice Satish K Agnihotri.

 

After initial protestations, the government, on its part, agreed not to issue allotment letters to students participating in the counselling. The case will be taken up for hearing on a priority basis on Monday. The matter relates to petitions filed by a group of Class 12 students of the 2015 batch, arguing that allowing students from previous years to participate in the counseling would deprive them of a big chunk of MBBS seats available this year. Their counsel V Raghavachari had argued that nearly 50% of the seats would be garnered by students from previous batches, due to the steep fall in cutoff marks for admissions this year.

 

On Friday, Tamil Nadu advocate general A L Somayaji informed the court that a total of 548 students from previous batches were likely to be allotted MBBS seats this year. There are 4,679 students from previous years, including 46 students who could not get MBBS seats last year because they were under-age, participating in the counselling. A total of 31,525 applications have been received from eligible students, the advocate general, who is assisted by special government pleader D Krishna Kumar, told the bench. During arguments, Somayaji dismissed the students' apprehension that about 50% of the available seats would go to previous years' students. He also rejected the argument that evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets during earlier years was liberal. It is an allegation without basis, as no material has been furnished to prove it, he said.

 

When the judges told Somayaji not to admit students till Monday, till the matter is decided by the court, he said students have come from far-off places and counselling was underway for disabled persons on Friday. After the bench reiterated its position, the advocate general agreed not to issue allotment orders and admission letters to students. Expressing satisfaction at the undertaking, the judges said no written orders were necessary, as it was very clear and that there was no doubt. The number of students rushing to the court swelled further with many advocates informing the bench that they too had cases to be filed and hence they too should be heard. The bench said it was ready to hear the main case pending before a single judge, if the government and the litigants gave a joint memo to the court registry requesting hearing by the bench.

Posted on 20 Jun 2015