Class X, XI & XII from city must for quota, says HC

CHANDIGARH: Putting to an end the controversy over students’ eligibility for the UT pool, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that those passing their Class X, XI and XII from Chandigarh would be entitled to reservation under the Chandigarh quota for admission to medical courses in Chandigarh.

Aspiring medical students and their parents protest against the postponement of MBBS counselling at the GMCH in Sector 32, Chandigarh, on Thursday. Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 4

Putting to an end the controversy over students’ eligibility for the UT pool, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that those passing their Class X, XI and XII from Chandigarh would be entitled to reservation under the Chandigarh quota for admission to medical courses in Chandigarh. The detailed judgment on the issue is not yet available.

Pursuant to the directions issued by the High Court, the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, made it clear that the counselling for admission to the MBBS course-2019, scheduled for today, had been postponed till further orders. It was added that the new counselling date would be intimated through its official website.

The order by the Division Bench of Justice Daya Chaudhary and Justice Sudhir Mittal came on a petition filed by Bodhadeep Pal and 17 other candidates against the Union of India and the Sector 32 hospital.

The petitioners, through senior counsel Gurminder Singh, JS Gill and RPS Bara, were seeking directions for quashing the criteria published on October 31, 2018, whereby students who had done only Class XII from a school recognised by the Chandigarh Administration had been made eligible against the UT quota for admission to the MBBS course for the 2019-2020 session.

The Bench was told that students who have done Class XI and Class XII from schools recognised by the Chandigarh Administration had been made eligible from the 2020-2021 session, “thereby completely compromising the rights of bona fide Chandigarh residents for whom the state pool or the Chandigarh quota is earmarked”.

The High Court had last year held as arbitrary a condition that allowed students even from outside to become eligible for the UT quota in medical admissions after passing Class XII examination from institutes situated in Chandigarh and recognised by it without insisting on residence as an essential eligibility condition.

The Bench of Justice Mahesh Grover and Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu had also made it clear that a candidate could seek the benefit of residence in only one state. Chandigarh has to its share 77 MBBS seats at the Government Medical College and Hospital. Of these, 63 are for the general category.

GMCH postpones counselling

Pursuant to the directions issued by the High Court, the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, made it clear that the counselling for admission to the MBBS course-2019, scheduled for Thursday, had been postponed till further orders. The new counselling date will be intimated through its official website.