70 per cent PG admissions in CMC Vellore be made from list of Christian Minority prepared by Tamil Nadu: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday directed that 70 per cent of the admissions in Post Graduate seats in Christian Medical College Vellore for academic session 2021-22 should be made from the list of Christian minority students prepared by Tamil Nadu on the basis of marks obtained in the NEET-PG examination.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai further directed that the remaining 30 per cent of the seats be filled by the college in compliance with the procedure followed in the previous academic year of 2020-21.

"70 per cent of admissions shall be made from a list of Christian minority students prepared by the state of Tamil Nadu on the basis of marks obtained by students in NEET-PG exams," the bench said.

Students belonging to states other than Tamil Nadu who have completed their MBBS at the college, should be treated as residents on the basis of the prevalent procedure, the bench added. It also clarified that its order is only for the purpose of admissions for 2021-22 and should not be treated as a precedent.

"Do not discriminate. If students who have completed five years are treated as residents, you have to treat these students also the same. Do not make them come here again. All these years, admissions have been done smoothly, let them be done smoothly this year," the bench observed.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan appeared for CMC, while Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari appeared for Tamil Nadu. The court was hearing an interim application filed by CMC Vellore on a January 19, 2022 order of the apex court. It had said the PG medical seats in CMC Vellore for academic session 2022-2023 would be filled from the minority merit list prepared by the Tamil Nadu government. CMC in its plea contended that the allotment of students for PG courses should be made from the all-India merit list and not the list prepared by the State.