Gauhati High Court directs verification of tea workers’ candidates for MBBS seats

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has directed the State Level Caste Scrutiny Committee (SLCSC) to give individual reports on the various applicants under the reserved category of Tea Garden Labourer (TGL) or Ex-TGL category on or before September 26 to enable them to secure admission to the 1st Year MBBS Course, 2023, by the last date of September 30, 2023.

The SLCSC has to determine whether an applicant actually belongs to the TGL/Ex-TGL category to claim reserved quota in 1st year MBBS seats in the Medical Colleges in Assam.

The HC has referred the matter to SLCSC to give an opportunity to all such applicants who are claiming 1st year MBBS seats in the Medical Colleges in Assam on the basis of the reserved quota for TGL/Ex-TGL category by allowing them to bring in any empirical evidence on record that may show as to who may be their predecessors or forefathers who may have worked in the tea gardens in Assam, particularly in which tea garden the person concerned had worked and for which period he worked.

To determine the antecedents of a candidate claiming the reserved quota, empirical material would not only have to be produced as to in which tea garden in Assam the person concerned may have worked as a tea garden labourer but also that the person claimed is actually the predecessor or forefather of the applicant, the HC said.

The HC has further said that, for the purpose of settling the issue, the Committee can use their own internal mechanism to determine the factual aspect as to which predecessor or forefather had worked in which tea garden and for which period, or the Committee may take the help of the respective Deputy Commissioners who have been asked to use all the resources under their disposal to make a true factual verification as to whether the person claimed is or was a tea garden labourer in the tea gardens of Assam, as claimed.

For the same purpose of determining the facts, a direction has also been issued to the management or owner of the respective tea gardens, in respect of whom a claim is made that the person concerned is or was a labourer in that tea garden, to cooperate with the authorities with full materials as per their records so as to determine whether the person concerned was actually a tea garden labourer at any given point in time in that garden.

The HC also noted that, with the last date of admission to the medical course being September 30, there is an 'extreme urgency' in respect of the applicants seeking admission in the Medical Colleges of Assam under the TGL/Ex-TGL category. The court has, accordingly, issued a direction to the State Level Caste Scrutiny Committee through the Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam in the Social Justice and Empowerment Department to make the Committee functional with immediate effect and to complete the verification at the earliest by giving it complete preferential treatment.

Moreover, the authorities in the Medical Education Department have also been directed to place all certificates of the applicants who claimed a seat under the TGL/Ex-TGL category for verification by the said committee by giving immediate intimation to the respective candidates to make themselves available before the SLCSC for verification. For that purpose, the department has been asked to immediately communicate with the respective candidate via their email IDs, their mobile numbers, or any other available means.

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