Govt move earns 74 unclaimed MBBS seats for Tamil Nadu students

CHENNAI: A smart move by Tamil Nadu government has not only prevented 74 MBBS seats lying unclaimed in All India Quota going waste, but also ensured that all of them were allotted to students from Tamil Nadu by the state government.
This windfall of more than 70 seats came Tamil Nadu’s way, after the Centre’s director-general of health services failed to complete online counselling for seats under its disposal, and Medical Council of India (MCI) published a list of surrendered seats under the All India Quota on September 1.
All states and colleges are supposed to earmark 15% of their sanctioned strength for All India Quota, to be allowed by DGHS on the basis of All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) conducted by CBSE. If any of these All India Quota seats are not filled in three counselling sessions as laid down by the Supreme Court, they would be considered as surrendered/leftover seats and the state government concerned would be free to allot to its own students.
This year, however, after noticing that more than 70 seats are lying unallotted in All India Quota pool, Tamil Nadu government moved the Supreme Court and obtained an order granting one week to hold counselling and allot these seats. Hours before allotments were done on October 4 and 5, a single judge allowed a petition filed by a candidate who had secured 12,485th rank in the AIPMT and directed state authorities to fill the seats on the basis of merit list prepared by CBSE for All India Quota.
Health secretary and selection committee of directorate of medical education then filed the present appeal. Advocate-general of Tamil Nadu submitted that the singe judge erred in passing the impugned order, as it would not be possible for the state to take up the CBSE list and grant admission, as students were from different states and their reservation status was not in public domain. Also, the petitioner-candidate ranked 12,485 in AIPMT was at least 7,717 ranks below the last person allotted MBBS seats in Tamil Nadu.
On Wednesday, a division bench of Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice K K Sasidharan allowed the state appeal, saying, “the state of Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court to extend the deadline for completing the admission process by filling the seats surrendered by DGHC. The Supreme Court granted permission to complete the process. The state is, therefore, entitled to make admission from the state list and fill the vacant seats.”
Though it is the prerogative of DGHS to conduct online counselling before the last date of September 30 and fill the seats, no such exercise was conducted, the judges said. “Since no such allotment was made before the cutoff date prescribed for completing admission, Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court to extend the deadline,” the judges said, setting aside the single judge order and permitting the state government to fill the surrendered All India Quota seats by October 7, as directed by the apex court.
“Tamil Nadu government’s initiative in approaching the Supreme Court helped all states to utilize the unallotted left over seats of All India Quota to their own students. It also prevented several hundred seats from going waste,” special government pleader (education) D Krishnakumar told TOI.