Three political parties in Tamil Nadu have moved the Madras High Court seeking 50% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the All India Medical Quota seats in non-Central government colleges for undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses in Tamil Nadu for the academic year 2020-21.
Following DMK’s petition, Tamil Nadu’s ruling party AIADMK moved the high court. The Tamil Nadu Law Minister and north Villupuram district secretary C.Ve. Shanmugam filed the petition on the behalf of the AIADMK government. MDMK founder Vaiko, too, has also filed a similar petition.
The Supreme Court on Thursday had rejected a batch of petitions filed by the AIADMK, CPI, DMK and other political parties, seeking the implementation of 50% reservation, and had said the reservation was not a fundamental right. The SC added that the parties were at liberty to withdraw the case and move the Madras High Court.
Now, AIADMK, represented by its Villupuram district secretary and Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam, has moved the Madras High Court. According to a report in the Hindu, in his affidavit, C Ve Shanmugam has pointed out that the reservations for OBCs was raised in the state from 31% to 50% by party’s founder MG Ramachandran.
In the petition, the petitioner stated that the founder of AIADMK and former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran was responsible for raising the reservation for the OBCs from 31% to 50%.
His petition also stated that in 2019, 8,137 postgraduate seats were available in the All India quota and as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act of 2006, OBCs should get 27% of seats. However, only 224 of the 2,197 seats were allotted to OBC students in non-Central government institutions.
“The Centre is not following its reservation of 27%, nor state government’s reservation of 50% thus robbing the OBC students just over the past three years,” his petition had reportedly stated.
He added that a resolution demanding the Centre too to act on it was passed by the Assembly on September 30, 1991 and Jayalalithaa was instrumental in doing so. Additionally, she played a key role in the move to enact the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act of 1993. The petitioner said, the former CM Jayalalithaa also obtained the presidential sanction for the inclusion on Tamil Nadu Backward Class, Scheduled Class and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act 1993, which provided reservation for OBCs. Hence AIADMK has been seeking adequate representation for OBCs at the state and central levels for decades, he added.