TN Governor gives his assent to 7.5% reservation for government school students in NEET

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit who had earlier said he would need about three weeks to study the Reservation Bill for government students gave his assent for the same on Friday.

He gave his nod a day after the Tamil Nadu government issued a government order to provide 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation for students who had studied in the government schools in the undergraduate medical admission.

In a statement, the Additional Director (Public Relations) in Governor's Office on Friday said Purohit has given his assent to the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on preferential basis to the students of the Government Schools Bill, 2020.

According to the statement, Purohit had sought the legal opinion from the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta on September 26. The legal opinion from Mehta was received on October 29.

Mehta in his opinion has said that the Tamil Nadu Bill is in consonance with the Constitution of India.

On Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government decided to take the executive order route to implement the 7.5 per cent reservation in undergraduate medical courses for government school students, who have passed the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) from 2020-21 academic year onwards.

The state government took the decision even as the Bill in this connection was pending with Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

According to the government order, since the NEET undergraduate results have been declared and the admission process started, there is an urgency to decide on this issue.

The government also said the power to issue executive directions under Article 162 of the Constitution is co-extensive with legislative powers.

Pending Purohit's decision, the government has taken a policy decision and issued the order to set apart 7.5 per cent seats of the undergraduate medical courses on preferential basis to students who have studied from Class 6 to 12 in the state government schools.

The 7.5 per cent reservation is applicable to the state government quota seats to all government medical and dental colleges. It is also applicable to the seats allotted by the state government in the self-financing medical/dental colleges, minority and non-minority and under all disciplines.

The Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on preferential basis to the students of the Government Schools Bill, 2020 providing 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students was passed by the Assembly on September 15.

Governor Purohit, in a letter to DMK President MK Stalin a couple of days back, had said he needed three to four weeks to arrive at a decision on the Bill.