Panel to look into regional reservation

Chief minister N Rangasamy reiterated in the assembly that a committee would be constituted to discuss and dispose of the prevailing confusion over engineering and medical seats with regard to the issue of regional reservation for admissions to professional courses under CENTAC in the Union Territory.

Replying to a query from A Anbazhagan of AIADMK during the question hour in the assembly, Rangasamy said that as per the government order issued on August 10 2006, regional reservation was being provided for the Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions at the rate of 18, 4 and 3 per cent respectively. However Presidential approval for the same had not been obtained.

“A policy decision must have been taken by getting the approval of the President. Besides, regional reservation goes against the Constitution of India,” said Anbazhagan. “For mere political gain, the regional reservation was being implemented, which is severely affecting students of Puducherry region.”

This sparked off a heated exchange between the MLAs of Puducherry and those from outlying regions of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, cutting across party lines. Karaikal MLA P N R Thirumurgan of Congress, DMK floor leader A M H Nazeem, P R Siva of AINRC, independent MLA, V M C Sivakumar, Mahe MLA E Valsaraj of Congress and Yanam MLA, Malladi Krishna Rao of Congress objected to the move for changing the system.

They urged the Speaker not to entertain any debate on the issue since the CENTAC admissions were drawing to a close. With AIADMK members Om Sakthi Sekhar and Periyasamy joining in support of Anbazhagan and the members from outlying regions opposing them, the house witnessed uproarious scenes.

“It is true that the students of Puducherry are affected and the provision of a separate reservation for them will resolve the issue, otherwise the problem would continue,” said Congress member K Lakshminarayanan.

DMK floor leader A M H Nazeem clarified that they did not have any objection in providing reservation for the students of Puducherry.

As the argument continued, the question hour was prolonged for half an hour more than the scheduled one hour on Saturday. In case of further confusion, Rangasamy promised to constitute a committee to resolve any issue.