Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has given his assent to a Bill envisaging 7.5 per cent reservation to government school students who have cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test in admission to medical courses.
A day after the state government took the executive route to implement the quota regime from the current 2020-21 academic year itself and issued a government order to facilitate it, the Raj Bhavan said the Governor has given his assent to the Bill.
The Governor sought legal opinion of the Solicitor General of India through a letter dated September 26 and the opinion was received on October 29, an official release from the Raj Bhavan said.
"As soon as the opinion was received, honourable Governor has given assent to the Bill," the statement said.
Amid accusations by opposition parties including the DMK that Purohit delayed clearing the Bill, the Raj Bhavan making it clear that Bill was approved soon after the receipt of legal opinion assumes significance.
Read: Tamil Nadu to increase medical college seats in the state
Earlier on Thursday, The Tamil Nadu government issued an order notifying 7.5 per cent quota for students of state-run schools in admission to undergraduate medical courses from the current 2020-21 academic year.
Since the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) results have now been declared and the admission process has started, there is an 'urgency' to decide on this issue, the Government Order (G.O) said.
As per the G.O, 7.5 per cent of seats shall be set apart on a preferential basis to government school students qualifying in NEET, in admissions to MBBS, BDS, BSMS, BAMS, BUMS, and BHMS from the academic year 2020-21.
By resorting to the executive route for implementing the quota, the AIADMK government has sought to take the wind out of the sails of opposition DMK which has been upping the ante on the issue and had staged protests demanding immediate implementation of the reservation.
(Added inputs from PTI)
