The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, 7 February, issued a notice on a plea that challenges the Tamil Nadu government's order related to the reservation of doctors in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) super speciality counselling.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai issued the notice while hearing a petition challenging the state government's decision to reserve 50 percent seats, pertaining to the super speciality level at the government medical colleges, to doctors serving under the state government, reported news agency ANI.
The petitioners who have challenged the state's decision, include candidates who had appeared for the examination on 10 January. The results for the same are expected to come out by this month end.
Arguing that the state government's order dated 7 November 2020 is in clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, the petitioners said that it creates an "impermissible classification" and is contrary to the law.
The petition says that the petitioners and other candidates had written the examination after taking note of an information bulletin that had said that there was no special provision.
"Various states have been attempting to impose different quotas on super speciality seats in Government Medical Colleges in their jurisdiction. The NEET-SS is a national examination conducted in pursuance of the mandate to coordinate the education standards across the nation," the petition said, as per ANI.
No reservation can be made for candidates until the court determines the validity of the special provisions in the super specialty counselling and creates a uniform policy, the petitioners said, adding, "In any case reservation can't be created amid the examination process." Hence, the petitioners have requested the court to order that admissions to the NEET-SS 2021 be carried out without providing any reservations to the in-service doctors.
The court has adjourned the matter to 25 February for further hearing.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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