Tamil Nadu: Providing a great relief to an aspirant seeking MBBS admission under the government school quota, the Madras High Court has held that a Thanjavur based aided school is a government school as the institution is being managed by district administration. With this, the court directed the concerned authorities that the petitioner should be considered as a student who studied in...
Tamil Nadu: Providing a great relief to an aspirant seeking MBBS admission under the government school quota, the Madras High Court has held that a Thanjavur based aided school is a government school as the institution is being managed by district administration.
With this, the court directed the concerned authorities that the petitioner should be considered as a student who studied in a government school during the MBBS admission process.
In October 2020, the Tamil Nadu government issued an order regarding the implementation of the 7.5% quota within the existing reservation in MBBS, BDS, Ayush courses for the students of the state government's higher secondary school.
In his petition, the aspirant had submitted that under the provisions of Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on preferential basis to Students of Government Schools Act 2020, students of aided schools managed by the state government should be entitled to seek admission under government school quota.
The petitioner submitted that he underwent his schooling from the sixth standard to twelfth standard in Rajah's Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur. He scored 1003 marks out of 1200 in the Higher Secondary examinations and 238 marks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NEET 2020.
His request for issuance of Bonafide Certificate certifying that he studied in a Government school for the purpose of availing the benefit of reservation provided under the Tamil Nadu Act No.34 of 2020 was negatived by the Chief Educational Officer, Thanjavur. Questioning the decision of the authorities, the petitioner approached the court and filed a writ petition.
The counsel for the state and the other respondents opposed the plea and stated that the petitioner can not be included under the quota as his school, Rajah's Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur is an aided private school and not a government school. It is managed by an entity known as Chattram Administration."The District Educational Officer, Thanjavur, passes monthly grant bills for the teaching and non-teaching staff. They are not considered as government servants. It has a school committee and the provisions of Tamil Nadu Recognized Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 1973 and the Rules framed thereunder are applicable to it.", they said.
The learned Advocate General further mentioned the provisions of Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on Preferential basis to Students of Government Schools Act, 2020 and used the principle of "ejusdem generis" while interpreting the provision. The counsel thus argued that merely because the government officials are associated with the administration of the school, that would not mean that the school is managed by the government departments.
After considering the submission of both the parties, Justice G R Swaminathan observed that the question of whether Rajah's Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur is a government school that has to be answered by referring to the position presently obtaining. Its historical origins are not much relevant. The court further added, " the fact remains that the administration was vested in the District Board and following its abolition in the year 1961, it came under the control of the District Administration. As rightly contended by the learned counsel for the petitioner, this position has been accepted by the Government itself in an earlier writ proceeding."
The court also noticed that though there is a school committee, it is the District Collector, Thanjavur who is the President. The Special Tahsildar is the Secretary. The court added, " the school no doubt has been treated as a private school under Tamil Nadu Recognized Private Schools(Regulation) Act, 1973. Its staff are not Government servants. But the fact remains that it is managed by the Revenue Department/District. Administration. It is funded entirely by the Government. That the Chattram Administration is managed by the Special Tahsildar indicates the true character of the administration."
The court also considered the point that under Tamil Nadu Act 34 of 2020, section 2, it is clearly mentioned that schools "managed by the government department" also are government schools. The Judge observed,
the key word occurring in Section 2(c) is "managed by government department". This statutory definition will have to receive a purposive construction. The object of enacting this legislation is to extend the benefit of reservation to economically disadvantaged students who have passed out of Government schools. Therefore, I have to adopt such a construction as would effectuate the legislative object.
Considering that the petitioner belongs to Scheduled Caste community and the school is a Tamil Medium school, the court also gave importance to the fact that it was the Special Tahsildar who wrote to the Education Department seeking issuance of Bonafide Certificate certifying that the petitioner was a student who studied in the government school. Hence, this clinches the issue in favour of the petitioner.
The court finally ordered,
When the writ petition came up for admission on 23.12.2020, the learned Judge felt that the petitioner must be considered as a student who studied in government school and gave interim direction to keep one seat vacant. During counselling, the petitioner was allotted M.B.B.S. seat in Sivagangai Medical College subject to the result of the writ petition. Since I have held that the Rajah's Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, is a Government school within the meaning of Section 2(c), the seat allocation made in favour of the writ petitioner is made absolute.
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