SC Notice to Medical Council of India, Govt on Nativity Criterion in Medical Courses
This nativity criterion is violative of the Constitution's Article 14 as it is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational, discriminatory, and classifies unreasonably, stated the petition
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response from the Medical Council of India as well as the Central government and State Government of Kerala on a medical college plea seeking direction to provide for the option of filling up seats through central counseling. It also asked to quash a Kerala government decision fixing a nativity criterion for admission.
"This nativity criterion is violative of the Constitution's Article 14 as it is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational, discriminatory, and classifies unreasonably," argued senior advocate Jayant Bhushan and advocate Y. Shiva Santosh, appearing for the medical college, which is an unaided minority institute.
The institution also said that due to the nativity criteria, it has to "fill its seats through state counselling and is unable to access central counselling which hinges on accessing and admitting an all-India pool of students".
"The reach of private unaided self-financing institutions some of which additionally enjoy the status of a minority institution under Article 30(1) of the Constitution suffers on account of being unable to take the option of centralised counselling and thereby admit students from an all-India pool, on account of the nativity criterion imposed by the state," added the plea.
Kerala does not financially support the private self-financing institutions in any manner whatsoever and this sort of "nationalising" the seats by restricting the eligible candidates to a state quota and not allowing the colleges to access an all-India pool of students is "unreasonable state action", it added.
It submitted that every private self-financing institution must have the right to choose its intake from an all-India pool of applications as they function from funds generated from fees alone and do not rely on state funding in any manner.
A bench, headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, asked the Central and state governments, the Medical Council of India and the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations to file their response and posted the matter for May 28.
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