Medical Admissions : Supreme Court Approves 50-50 Seat Sharing Agreement Between CMC Vellore & TN Govt As "Just & Fair"

The Supreme Court has approved the seat-sharing formula free agreed by the Christian Medical College(CMC) at Vellore and the State of Tamil Nadu for sharing the MBBS and PG medical seats among themselves on 50-50 basis.

"Taking into consideration the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, we find that the arrangement arrived at between the parties to the present petition is just and fair", the Court observed in the order passed on August 10.

Recording terms of the agreement, a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and PS Narasimha disposed of the writ petition filed by CMC Vellore seeking the quashing of Selection Committee's letter whereby the State of Tamil Nadu sought to impose the state policy of reserving 50% of seats ("state quota") in its favour in the undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses.

The terms of the seat sharing agreement are as follows :

For the Undergraduate MBBS Course

a) 50% of the seats shall be filled up by the management by the same procedure that was being followed for earlier the academic years college on the basis of inter-se merit as per the NEET results.;

b) Out of this 50% of Management quota, as per past practice 10% seats to be allotted to the children of the staff members working in the applicant college on the basis of inter-se merit as per the NEET results.

c) Remaining 50% of the seats will be filled by the State Government from the state merit list of NEET examination in following manner:

(i) 30% of the seats will be filled by the State Government following its policy of reservation strictly in accordance with the NEET merit list; and

(ii) 20% of the seats shall be filled by the State Government candidates belonging to the Christian minority from the State strictly in accordance with the NEET merit list.

For the Post graduate courses

a) 50% of the seats shall be filled up by the management by the same procedure that was being followed for earlier the academic years college on the basis of inter-se merit as per the NEET results;

b) 50% of the seats will be filled by the state government out of which

(i) 30% of the seats will be filled by the State Government following its policy of reservation strictly in accordance with the NEET merit list; and

(ii) 20% of the seats shall be filled by the State Government candidates belonging to the Christian minority from the State strictly in accordance with the NEET merit list. CMC graduates who serve and fulfill the bond obligation outside Tamil Nadu as part of CMC's graduation program will be eligible for admission under this 20% minority quota, upon certification by the Principal of the Institution and them being within the merit for Christian minority.

In February 2022, the Supreme Court had passed an interim direction in the case with respect to 2021-2022 PG admissions, saying that admission to 70% of the seats  shall be made from the list of Christian minority students prepared by the State of Tamil Nadu on the basis of marks obtained in the NEET-PG examination and that the remaining 30% seat would be filled by the management of CMC in compliance with the procedure followed in the previous academic year, i.e., 2020-21.

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Bhatnagar appeared for CMC. Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari and Advocate on Record Dr Joseph Aristotle appeared for the TN Govt.

[Case Title: Christian Medical College Vellore v. State of TN W.P.(C) No. 8/2022]

Click here to read/download the order