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Quota for govt school students will dilute NEET merit: Centre to Madras HC

Court
The submission came in a case filed by an MBBS aspirant from Puducherry who had sought immediate implementation of the 10% quota for government school students.
Image for representation/PTI
The union government has informed the Madras high court that the 7.5% reservation in MBBS admissions for government school students who clear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will dilute the ‘NEET merit’. This was stated by the union government in relation to a case filed regarding a similar law passed in Puducherry.
The government of Puducherry recently passed a law providing 10% reservation in MBBS admissions to students who complete their education in government schools and clear NEET. The law is similar to the one passed by the government of Tamil Nadu. However, the union government is yet to provide assent to the Puducherry bill. Therefore, an MBBS aspirant from Puducherry filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking immediate implementation of the law which provides 10% quota for students from government schools.
The petition came up for hearing before a bench consisting of Justice B Pugalendhi. The petitioner argued that the delay in providing assent is an act against federalism practised by the union government and that the act is insulting to the government school students of Puducherry. The public prosecutor who represented the union home ministry told the court that NEET was brought in to make ‘One Nation, One eligibility’ a reality and the bill passed by Puducherry government providing 10% reservation for government school students will end up diluting the merit of NEET. The public prosecutor added that the Tamil Nadu government’s 7.5% reservation for government school students has not been brought to the attention of the union government. The union government also sought six months time to decide on Puducherry’s bill.
Noting the submissions, Justice Pugalendhi ordered the union government to file a counter in four weeks and adjourned the case. 
Around 313 MBBS seats and 92 BDS seats were up for grabs by the government school students in Tamil Nadu in the 2020 medical admissions held in December 2020. 

Source: TheNewsMinute.com