Order on 85 per cent quota challenged

The appeal against the July 14 order of single Judge K Ravichandra Babu, said even though the NEET is common for students irrespective of boards, the single judge ought to have considered that the question paper has been prepared by the CBSE resulting in majority of the questions being taken from the CBSE syllabus resulting in students of the stream having an advantage over state board students. 

Noting that the government had no alternative other than taking a policy decision on the issue, the appeal said it is clear that the students, who studied in the state board and the students, who studied in CBSE are not equals. Hence, unequal cannot be treated as equals as per Article 14 of the Constitution.  

To ensure equal opportunity to the students of varying boards, normalisation has been followed until now under the Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act 2006. The above was enacted after obtaining the Presidential assent, which came into force on March 7, 2007, which was upheld by a Division Bench of High Court and the Supreme Court and admissions to medical colleges had progressed until 2016-17 as per the act, the plea said. 

The Supreme Court while dealing with a civil appeal on May 2, 2016, had specifically upheld the power of state government to legislate on admissions. Accordingly, though the Government of India has amended the Medical Council of India Act, 1956 and the Dentist Act, 1948, for conducting NEET the state government has the powers to enact a separate law, the plea added and sought to set aside the single judge’s order.

The Madras High Court has made it clear that the pendency of a plea seeking to relocate the statue of actor Sivaji Ganesan from Kamarajar Salai junction to the platform on the east of the road, shall not stand in the way of the authorities removing the statue and erecting the same at the Sivaji Ganesan Manimandapam, which is ready for inauguration.

Justice M Duraiswamy in his order also held that the government has rightly taken a decision to remove the statue since a division bench on January 23, 2014 had clearly held that the statue erected on the middle of the road at Kamarajar Salai Junction would affect traffic flow and the view of vehicles passing through Dr Radhakrishnan Salai. 

The petitioner had given representations on September 28, 2016 and May 17, 2017, to relocate the statue at the end of a platform on the east of Kamarajar Salai where a number of statues have already been erected. He had moved the court since the state government had failed to respond to his plea. The special government pleader submitted that the government cannot relocate the statue on the said place and therefore, has decided to erect the statue in the memorial building. 

However, recording the submissions made by the counsel of both side and making it clear that the petition will not be an impediment in the statue’s removal, the judge granted four weeks as sought by the special government pleader to file the government’s counter in this regard.