Medical aspirant caught in a border row between Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

A first-generation medical aspirant residing in a village on the border of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, is in a unsual situation, despite clearing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) scoring 500 out of 720.

The teenager, R. Manikandan, 19, is a resident of Puranasingapalayam village part of which is in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu while the remaining part is in the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The boy resides in the Tamil Nadu part of the village located in Kandamangalam block in Villupuram district. But he did his school education till class XII at the Bharathidasan Government Higher Secondary School, which is a stone’s throw away from his residence, and is located within Puducherry limits of the village.

Authorities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have both rejected his claim for medical admissions citing the rule book.

Manikandan, who cleared NEET in the second attempt, had applied for admission to MBBS in Tamil Nadu hoping that the 7.5 % quota of reservation for government school students would be of help to him. “My application was rejected on the ground that I did my education in a school within Puducherry limits although my residence is just 200 metres within the Tamil Nadu limits, from the school,” he says.

Manikandan’s physics and class teacher S. Sriram said that the boy had inadvertently stated that he belonged to Puducherry (State of eligibility) while applying for the NEET exam from an Internet centre.

Though Manikandan secured the 111th rank in the rank list released by the Puducherry government, he had not applied for an MBBS seat under the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) of Puducherry.

From the point of the school where he did his education, the Tamil Nadu government rejected his application and from the point of residence the Puducherry government has said he was not eligible to apply under CENTAC.

“When I contacted the authorities during the second phase of counselling (general counselling) in Chennai on December 10, the officials clarified that I was not eligible for a seat under the 7.5 % quota since I had studied in a school in Puducherry. The officials however said that my name was in the waiting list and that I could apply under the general category if I produced a No Objection Certificate from Puducherry,” he says.

Mr. Sriram says that the boy’s parents are farm labourers and he is the first-generation candidate in the family to get into the portals of a college. Hence, the Tamil Nadu or Puducherry governments should consider his proposal favourably and enable him to continue medical education, he said.

Manikandan has also drawn the attention of Puducherry Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and the Education Department to his predicament and sought their intervention to help him realise his dream.

There are several habitations in Puducherry which are close to Tamil Nadu, and such geographical features cause difficulties to both students and residents.