Tamil Nadu governor approves executive order providing 7.5% reservation to medical students who have cleared NEET

• The Tamil government has announced that it will provide 7.5% reservation to government school students qualifying in NEET.
• The 7.5% quota will be provided in each category of vertical reservation followed in Tamil Nadu within the 69% reservation.
• It would also apply to seats allotted by the state government in self-financing medical and dental colleges, minority and non-minority (institutions), and under all disciplines, the order said.

The Tamil government has passed an executive order announcing that it will provide 7.5% reservation to government school students qualifying in NEET for admissions to MBBS, BDS, BSMS, BAMS, BUMS, and BHMS in the academic year 2020-21.

Since the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) results have been declared and the admission process has started, there is an 'urgency' to decide on this issue, the Government Order (G.O) said.

"Since the NEET undergraduate results have been declared and the admission process has started, there is an urgency to decide on this issue. Since the power to issue executive directions under Article 162 of the Constitution of India is co-extensive with legislative powers, pending decision of the Honourable Governor, the government has taken the following policy decisions and issued orders accordingly," the order on 7.5% quota states.

The executive order has also been approved by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit. The approval comes in less than 24 hours after Tamil Nadu government decided to announce it.

7.5% quota will be provided in each category
The 7.5% quota shall be provided in each category of vertical reservation followed in Tamil Nadu within the 69% reservation. The reservation is applicable to all state-quota seats across all government medical and dental colleges.

It would also apply to seats allotted by the state government in self-financing medical and dental colleges, minority and non-minority (institutions), and under all disciplines, the order said.

The state-run school students are also entitled to compete for government seats, other than the 7.5%, along with students who studied in private schools.

The bill was passed in the assembly on September 15 and sent to the Governor for his assent.

The quota initiative was based on the recommendations of a committee headed by retired Judge of Madras High Court Justice Kalaiyarasan, and it included experts.

The political tension
The implementation of horizontal reservation, applicable to students who studied in government schools from class 6 to 12, became crucial for the ruling party. The issue became a focal point in the state, where assembly elections are due during April-May next year.

By resorting to the executive route for implementing the quota, the AIADMK government has sought to take the wind out of the sails of opposition DMK, which has been upping the ante on the issue and had staged protests demanding immediate implementation of the reservation.

Earlier this week, DMK chief MK Stalin, leading a demonstration seeking the governor's nod for the bill, had said his party's protests would continue till the students got the reservation. He had also asked if there was justification for him to occupy the position without getting the quota bill cleared.

SEE ALSO:
Kepler estimates there are at least 300 million potentially habitable planets within the Milky Way galaxy