Migrated candidates cannot demand Pondy quota: Madras High Court

Justice M M Sundresh, who gave the ruling, said merely because a scheduled caste person migrated to Puducherry from another state, resided there for five years and obtained a certificate of resident as well, he cannot be treated as a resident for the purpose of admission in professional courses meant for natives of the Union Territory.

The judge dismissed a batch of 25 petitions from Dalit candidates, who had migrated from Tamil Nadu and lived in Puducherry for five years, seeking a direction to include them under scheduled caste category in admission to professional and other courses of higher education.

The judge said, “Residents, as indicated in the Presidential order dated March 5, 1964 would only mean such residents who were available on that date, and not thereafter”. Merely because a person resides for various reasons in Puducherry, he cannot be given the status and he cannot be allowed to be brought under the umbrella of the Presidential order.

Similarly, such a person does not lose his right to reservation in the state in which he was a permanent resident and from where he had migrated to Puducherry, the judge added. The judge said a certificate of resident given after completion of five years cannot be used to define a resident as mentioned in the Presidential order.

A mere issuance of certificate of resident issued to a migrant, would not give a vested right to be treated under the reservation category for the purpose of education. Such a certificate has been given to every person who comes to the Union Territory and resides therein for five years. It was given merely based on the period of stay and therefore, nothing to do with the status, the judge added.