Political parties’ pleas on OBC quota in med seats admitted

Chennai

A division bench comprising Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy adjourned it to June 22 after the standing counsel for the Centre sought at least two weeks to file the counter, while the political parties insisted on a short notice considering the urgency of the issue. The bench is expected to decide on this during the next hearing.

Conceding with the submission by Additional Solicitor General G Rajagopalan that any grant of interim relief could transpire only if the aggrieved candidates were also part of the plea, the bench directed the petitioners to implead the aggrieved candidates as respondents.

Other than the two parties, PMK, MDMK and DK were among the petitioners. They alleged that the Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations clearly stipulated adherence to State reservation laws while filling seats, but the Centre refused to follow the State law on OBC reservation in the all India quota while SC/ST reservation was implemented.

Appearing for the DMK, senior counsel P Wilson stressed that the Centre had not reserved any seats for OBCs in the recently-published results for all India quota in postgraduate medical and dental seats in non-central institutions, citing a related plea pending before the Supreme Court since 2015. He said mere pendency could not be a ground for failing to implement the MCI regulation. Moreover, even that plea was for reservation and not against it, and no interim order exists, he added.

Senior counsel AL Sundaresan appearing for the AIADMK contended that the social object of uplifting the backward classes could be achieved only if seats were reserved for OBCs.