Issue clears guideline on sports quota, court tells Pondy govt

CHENNAI: Even as it dismissed a petition seeking permission to use the Meritorious Sports Person (MSP) quota more than one time to secure an MBBS seat, the Madras High Court said it does not find the attempt to be illegal or invalid and directed the Puducherry government to issue a guideline on the quota with absolute clarity.

“This court is attempting to ensure that the MSP quota is not misused by blocking the right to equal opportunity of other eligible sportspersons to seek admission under the quota through multiple users by the same candidate and the court does not find it to be illegal or invalid,” said Justice N Seshasayee while disposing of the petition.

An unexpected situation has arisen which may not be in contemplation, but is still required to be met, he said. To avoid any confusion and for an interpretative exercise in the future, the Puducherry government was directed to modify the web portal for online application suitably to include a column about any earlier use of the quota by a candidate.

The petitioner, S Sivasakthi, had obtained a BDS seat under MSP quota for the 2022-23 academic year. She subsequently attended NEET for the current academic year to join MBBS course under the same quota. After listing her name in merit list, Centac issued a show-cause notice asking her to explain how she was eligible to use it yet again.

Her lawyer, Senior counsel T Mohan, said even though she had obtained a BDS seat last academic year, she could have been accommodated even in non-MSP quota, as at least 23 BDS seats remained vacant last year. Hence, she can be treated as one of the 23 vacant seats, which would keep alive her privilege to utilise the MSP quota for another year, he argued.

Additional Government Pleader contended that though the government order does not specifically state so, the MSP quota could be used only once and not multiple times. The intent was to confine it to one-time use in a candidate’s lifetime, he added.