Aparna Raj Kumar tried to get admitted to the MBBS course during the Tamil Nadu medical admission counselling based on a nativity certificate issued to her. She filed a petition at the Madras HC to direct the Selection Committee to consider her application for MBBS admission in Tamil Nadu. She had also informed in her petition that she had not applied to any other state.
The counsel for the Tamil Nadu government had, in response, submitted that the petitioner had applied for a medical seat in Gujarat, which hence forfeits her right to apply for a seat in Tamil Nadu.
What is a nativity certificate?
It is a document issued by the state government, certifying that they have lived in a particular state. For one to obtain a nativity certificate before the admissions, the parents/guardians of the applicants or the applicants themselves should have permanently resided continuously for 5 years in Tamil Nadu, and one must also submit a host of documents.
Need for nativity certificates
Nativity certificates are demanded for admissions to MBBS seats that come under the state quota. It is demanded in order to make sure that TN-based students get their due share of seats. In the state, 85% of the number of medical seats in Tamil Nadu comes under the state quota.
As per the rules for medical admissions in Tamil Nadu, a student must furnish a nativity certificate if he or she has studied Class VIII to XII outside Tamil Nadu. This rule is put in order to prevent students from other states to obtain a medical seat in Tamil Nadu medical colleges under the state quota instead of the all-India quota.
Why the ruling is important
The ruling is significant because it sets a precedent for candidates who apply in other states too, taking undue advantage of the nativity clause.
While hearing Aparna’s petition, Justice Vaidyanathan said that the petitioner had misinformed that court with the intention of gaining a seat that would otherwise be rightfully allotted to some other deserving candidate.
“Though strictures could be passed against the petitioner for approaching this court with unclean hands, this court defers from doing so, taking note of the tender age and that, being a girl child, her future should not be ruined. Hence, the petitioner’s candidature at Tamil Nadu need not be considered,” he said.
Reacting to the order of the court, educationist Prince Gajendra Babu told TNM: “It is a welcome move. There is no doubt about it. It must be probed as to how students manage to secure two nativity certificates.”
“That said, the Madras HC has decided to settle the issue within the framework of NEET. What we have been reiterating is that NEET itself is not as per the constitutionally approved laws of federalism,” he added.
The Madras HC had earlier made Aadhar card compulsory for students who sought admissions to medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. This move was done as additional proof for the nativity of the applicants after a petitioner alleged that 440 students from other states got admitted to Tamil Nadu’s medical colleges. It was later established by a committee of advocates that around 296 students admitted to MBBS in 2017 in Tamil Nadu had furnished nativity certificates which were issued without proper scrutiny.