The Union Government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it would not be able to implement OBC reservation in the All India Medical Seats for this academic year. This comes as a huge blow for the community that felt that it had tasted victory when the Madras High Court had stated a few months ago that there was nothing standing in the way of implementing OBC reservations in medical seats and that a committee should be formed to ensure that proper implementation takes place.
However, on Thursday, the Union Government told the Supreme Court that it would not be able to implement the 50 percent reservation for the OBCs this year. With NEET results expected to release tomorrow, the government is reported to have said they didn't have enough time to implement the quota this year. July this year, the Madras High Court stated, “There is no legal or constitutional bar against OBC reservation under All India Quota. The panel that the High Court has recommended to be constituted is to also include the Tamil Nadu Health Secretary."
In August, 17 days after the Madras High Court passed an order directing the Government of India to form a committee to ensure implementation of 50 percent reservation for OBCs in medical seats, the Health and Family Welfare department even announced their nominee to the committee. Dr P Umanath, IAS, the Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation had been nominated from the state to be on the committee.
Several Tamil Nadu parties had approached the Supreme Court in June seeking the proper implementation of OBC reservation in the All India Medical Quota. Previously, the OBCs were being provided reservation only in central universities. However, several activists and politicians had argued that since the States were allotting such a large margin of seats to the AIQ, the OBCs were losing out on seats that they could avail in non-central universities. It was estimated that the OBCs had lost out on over 10,000 seats in the last three years because the Centre had failed to implement reservation in the AIQ.
