The National Medical Commission (NMC) on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that there is no scope for providing additional seats in 24 government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu to accommodate candidates under the 7.5 per cent reservation provided for students from government schools as it requires the sanction of the Supreme Court.

NMC counsel VP Raman said the Supreme Court has constantly held that High Courts cannot order for creation of additional seats in government medical colleges. The issue pertains to a batch of pleas moved by candidates who got allocated to self-financing medical colleges under the 7.5 per cent quota but were waitlisted as they were not able to afford the fees. The petitioners stated that they would not have been in waitlist if the announcement on quota had come a day earlier.

Hearing the submissions made by the NMC, Justice Anand Venkatesh refused to pass any order on the creation of additional seats for the waitlisted candidates. He said, “If such order is challenged and eventually reversed by apex court, it would be cruel to the students.” Advocate-General Vijay Narayan said 11 MBBS seats have been reverted to the State quota from the All-India quota and in addition to 15 BDS seats. “We have 26 seats which can be allotted to the students,” he added.

Senior advocate P Wilson contended that priority must be given to students who are in the waitlist. Justice Anand Venkatesh directed the State to conduct separate counselling for waitlisted students after the conclusion of the second of regular counselling.