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Supreme Court of India
The State Of Tamil Nadu vs Union Of India on 26 October, 2020Author: L. Nageswara Rao
Bench: [ Rastogi], [ Gupta], [ N Rao]
Non-Reportable
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
Civil Appeal No. 3518 of 2020
(Arising out of SLP (C) No.9286 of 2020)
The State of Tamil Nadu …. Appellant(s)
Versus
Union of India & Ors. ….Respondent (s)
WITH
Civil Appeal No. 3519 of 2020
(Arising out of SLP (C) No.9592 of 2020)
O R D E R
Leave granted.
1. The grievance of the Appellant is the non-
implementation of reservation for the Other Backward
Classes (OBC) candidates in medical seats contributed by
the State of Tamil Nadu to the All India Quota. The
Appellant and several others filed writ petitions in the High
Court of Judicature at Madras for a direction to the
Respondents to implement reservation for OBC candidates
in the medical seats surrendered to the All India Quota by
the State of Tamil Nadu. The writ petitions were disposed
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of by the High Court by a judgment dated 27.07.2020. The
High Court observed that there is no legal or constitutional
impediment for extending the benefit of reservation to the
Other Backward Class candidates in the State surrendered
All India Quota seats of the under-graduate and post-
graduate medical courses in the State-run medical colleges
within the State of Tamil Nadu. However, the High Court
was of the opinion that implementation of the reservation
should be after a joint deliberation between the Central
Government, Medical Council of India and the State
Government. The High Court was of the opinion that the
implementation of reservation as prayed by the writ
petitioners cannot be done for the present academic year
as that would disturb the selection process that has been
set into motion. The High Court directed the Union of India
to convene a meeting and finalise the manner in which the
facilities of OBC reservation should be provided against the
All India Quota from the next academic year.
2. The State of Tamil Nadu has filed the above SLPs
being aggrieved by that part of the judgment which
denied the implementation of reservation for OBCs in
admissions to Government run medical colleges in All
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India Quota for the current academic year i.e. 2020-
2021. At present, we are concerned with the extension
of the benefit of reservation to OBC candidates in the All
India Quota for admission in Government-run medical
colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu for the academic year
2020-2021.
3. We have heard Mr. V. Giri, learned Senior Counsel,
Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, learned Additional Advocate
General along with Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna appearing for
the State of Tamil Nadu, Mr. P. Wilson, learned Senior
Counsel along with Mr. R. Nedumaran appearing for the
intervenor, Mr. Balbir Singh, learned Additional Solicitor
General appearing for the Union of India and Mr. Gaurav
Sharma appearing for the National Medical Commission
(formerly known as Medical Council of India).
4. Mr. V. Giri, learned Senior Counsel submitted that
the policy of reservation of seats in Educational
Institutions in the State of Tamil Nadu is governed by the
Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of seats in Educational
Institutions and of appointments or posts in the services
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under the State) Act, 1993 (hereafter referred to as the
1993 Act) and so far as under-graduate medical seats
are concerned, 85% of the seats of the under-graduate
medical seats in all medical colleges in the State of Tamil
Nadu are filled up in accordance with the provisions of
the 1993 Act. The State Government made a
representation to the Union of India to permit
implementation of reservation for OBC candidates in the
15% seats which have been surrendered by the State to
the All India Quota. As there was no response from the
Union of India, the State of Tamil Nadu filed a writ
petition before the High Court seeking a direction for
implementation of the 1993 Act to ensure reservation for
OBC candidates in the All India Quota seats in medical
courses. The High Court accepted the contention of the
petitioner and held that reservation for OBC’s has to be
implemented in the All India Quota from the next year.
According to Mr. V. Giri, though the admissions to the
post-graduate courses have been completed, the
admissions to the under-graduate courses are still at an
early stage and the OBC candidates should not be
deprived of the benefit of implementation of reservation
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for admissions to the Government-run medical
institutions in the State of Tamil Nadu. Mr. Giri relied
upon the stand taken by the Union of India before the
High Court to argue that the Respondents cannot resort
to technical pleas for non-implementation of reservation
for OBC candidates for this academic year.
5. Mr. Balbir Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General
contended that under-graduate seats in MBBS and BDS
courses are being allotted to all eligible and qualified
candidates under the 15% All India Quota on the basis of
on-line counseling conducted by the Medical Counselling
Committee of the Director General of Health Services
(DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India. The said allotment is based on the
National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Under-
graduate examination conducted by the National Testing
Agency. A letter was issued by the Medical Counseling
Committee of the DGHS to the participating colleges on
28.08.2020 requesting for contribution of seats. The
learned Additional Solicitor General contended that a
roster is prepared having Unreserved, Scheduled Castes,
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Scheduled Tribes and Physically Disabled candidates.
The roster also includes OBC category, but only with
regards to the Central Educational Institutions. On the
basis of the roster, a provisional seat matrix is prepared
by the Medical Counseling Committee of DGHS. The
final seat matrix is posted on the website of the Intra-
Medical Counseling Committee. Candidates who have
qualified for the All India Quota under-graduate seats
(MBBS and BDS) will be eligible for on-line allotment
process for All India Quota seats. The learned Additional
Solicitor General contended that admissions to the post-
graduate medical courses for the year 2020-2021 have
been completed and the counselling for the under-
graduate admissions is scheduled to commence from
26.10.2020. He argued that a Committee has been
constituted in compliance with the judgment of the High
Court. A meeting was held by the Committee on
22.09.2020 in which Dr. P. Umanath, Managing Director,
Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation also
participated. It is the case of the Union of India that any
direction given by this Court for implementation of OBC
reservation in under-graduate admissions, the process
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for which has already commenced, would lead to
complications as the seat contribution and matrix
preparation cannot be changed at this stage. The
learned Additional Solicitor General made it clear that
the domicile clause shall not be applicable to All India
Quota seats.
6. Mr. Gaurav Sharma, learned Senior Counsel
representing the National Medical Commission (formerly
known as Medical Council of India) submitted that 15%
of the total number of seats in under-graduate courses
and 50% of the seats in post-graduate medical courses
in all Government medical colleges or colleges run by
the Government, Societies and Corporations are
earmarked as All India Quota seats. Mr. Sharma
submitted that the All India Quota seats are filled up
from the All India NEET merit list and the examination is
conducted by the DGHS. He stated that there is no
domicile or residence reservation or preference for filling
up the All India Quota seats. Mr. Sharma further
submitted that reservation for Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Physically Disabled candidates is
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being implemented in the All India Quota seats.
However, he made it clear that there is no reservation
for OBC candidates for the All India Quota seats except
in Central Educational Institutions which have a separate
admission process. Mr. Sharma contended that it is not
possible to implement the OBC reservation in the All
India Quota for the present academic year since the
admission process has started long back. The process
could not be completed in view of the COVID-19
pandemic. Applications were made by the students in
December, 2019. The results of the NEET examination
were declared on 16.10.2020 and the counseling is
scheduled to commence from 26.10.2020. The students
who have taken the NEET examination are aware that
there is no reservation for OBC candidates in the All India
Quota. At this advanced stage of the process of
admission to the under-graduate medical courses, it will
be very difficult to implement the reservation for OBC
candidates.
7. Mr. P. Wilson, learned Senior Counsel appearing for
the intervenor brought to our notice the stand taken by
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the Union of India that the State specific reservation for
OBCs has to be implemented in the All India Quota seats.
Mr. Wilson supported the learned counsel for the State
and requested that a direction should be issued to the
Respondents to implement the OBC reservation for
admission to the All India Quota seats in under-graduate
medical courses for this academic year.
8. The only point that arises for consideration of this
Court is whether a direction can be issued for
implementation of the reservation to OBC candidates for
admissions to under-graduate medical courses for this
year. It is no doubt true that the High Court accepted
the submissions of the Appellants that the 1993 Act can
be made applicable to the All India Quota seats.
However, a direction was given to the Union of India to
constitute a committee to work out the modalities of
implementation of the reservation for OBC candidates to
the All India Quota seats in the State of Tamil Nadu. At
present, there is no challenge to the judgment of the
High Court except this writ petition wherein the
grievance is limited to the direction that the
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implementation of the reservation will be from next year.
The grievance of the Appellant is that the High Court
committed an error in holding that reservation for OBC
candidates cannot be implemented for the present
academic year as it would disturb the entire admission
process that has already been set in motion. The
process for admissions to under-graduate medical
courses commenced in December, 2019 and application
forms were issued and filled up by the candidates. The
process could not be completed on schedule in view of
the unprecedented circumstances owing to the
pandemic. The NEET under-graduate examination was
conducted on 13.09.2020, the results were announced
on 16.10.2020 and the counseling is scheduled to
commence on 26.10.2020. At present, reservation in the
All India Quota seats has been provided only in favour of
the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Physically
Disabled candidates. On the strength of the judgment of
the High Court, the Appellant is seeking implementation
of reservation in the All India Quota seats in State-run
medical colleges which are situated in the State of Tamil
Nadu. The admission to All India Quota seats is done on
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the basis of marks obtained in the NEET Examination.
The Appellant agreed that there is no domicile or
residence reservation or preference for the All India
Quota seats. All candidates belonging to the OBC
category shall be eligible for admission to OBC seats in
the All India Quota in the State of Tamil Nadu if
reservation is implemented. Candidates belonging to
the OBC category from States other than the State of
Tamil Nadu would not have even indicated that they
belonged to OBC category in the application form as
they were not aware of any reservation in the All India
Quota for OBC candidates. If all the OBC candidates are
now informed about the implementation of reservation
for OBC candidates, the entire process has to be re-done
which would disturb the counselling which is about to
commence from 26.10.2020.
9. The Committee appointed by the Union of India is
examining the modalities for implementation of
reservation for OBC candidates in the All India Quota.
After holding discussions with the State of Tamil Nadu
and other States, a final decision will be taken by the
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Committee which can be implemented from the next
academic year i.e. 2021-2022. The admission to post-
graduate courses have been completed and cannot be
interdicted at this stage. As admissions to the under-
graduate medical courses have already been delayed
due to the public health crisis, we do not want to delay
the admissions to the under-graduate courses further by
giving any direction to implement the reservation for
OBCs for this academic year. The High Court was right in
observing that the selection process which has
commenced for the current academic year cannot be
disturbed. For the aforementioned reasons, we reject the
request for interim relief as prayed for.
……………………………..J.
[L. NAGESWARA RAO]
…………………………….J.
[HEMANT GUPTA]
…………………………….J.
[AJAY RASTOGI]
New Delhi,
October 26, 2020.
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