Chennai: A candidate whose name was not included in the provisional merit list for admission to the MBBS course as he was falling short of 27 days to fulfill the age requirement, has approached the Madras high court to direct the authorities to relax the rule on the minimum age.
When the petition filed by minor T. Ramanujam of Pudukottai, represented by his father and natural guardian T. Thangarasu, came up for hearing before Justice V Ramasubramanian, additional government pleader P. Sanjai Gandhi took notice for the state government and selection committee, Director of Medical Education.
In his brief order, the judge said that according to additional government pleader, all medical seats had already been filled up, but the selection committee secretary should file a written statement to the court regarding whether this was so. The matter has been posted to August 8.
The selection committee had told the petitioner that since he would not complete 17 years on December 31, 2014, he could not be admitted into the first year MB BS programme this academic year.
The Medical Council of India’s regulations on graduate medical education prescribe that a candidate who completes 17 years of age on December 31 of the year of admission in the MBBS course alone could be admitted, but it has the powers to relax the rule on minimum age.
The petitioner said that the Chief Education Officer, Namakkal, had issued orders, relaxing the minimum age requirement for his son to appear for the higher secondary course examination as he had not completed 17 years of age, which was required for the examination..
Similarly, in an extraordinary case of this nature, the MCI can certainly exercise its power and provide leeway for his son to enable him to serve society at large, he added.
