The Supreme Court on Monday said 70 per cent postgraduate seats in Christian Medical College Vellore for academic session 2021-22, should be made from Tamil Nadu's list of Christian minority students.
A bench headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, however, said that its order is only for the purpose of admissions for 2021-22 and cannot not be treated as a precedent.
The bench also comprising Justice B.R. Gavai said: "70 percent of admissions shall be made from a list of Christian minority students prepared by the state of Tamil Nadu." It clarified that this list should be prepared based on the marks scored in NEET-PG exam.
The top court was hearing an interim application filed by CMC Vellore in connection with an apex court order passed on January 19 this year. The college informed the top court that postgraduate students for the academic session 2022-2023 would be filled from the minority merit list prepared by the Tamil Nadu government.
The top court made it clear that the college will fill the remaining 30 per cent seats at the postgraduate level in compliance with the procedure followed in the previous academic year.
During the hearing, the top court said there should not any discrimination with those students who have completed five years, and emphasized that students should not be forced to move the court. "All these years, admissions have been done smoothly, let them be done smoothly this year."
The top court further added that students hailing from other states, who have completed their MBBS at the college, should be treated as residents on the basis of the prevalent procedure.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan appeared for the medical college and Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari represented the Tamil Nadu government.
The medical college, in its plea, submitted that the allotment of students for postgraduate courses should be made from the all-India merit list and not the list prepared by the Tamil nadu government.
Source : IANS