Chennai: Madras high court has held that a candidate’s constitutional rights under the minority category to be considered for admission under the special category to educational courses could not be completely denied merely because of the delay in producing the minority certificate.Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy has directed the directorate of medical admission and the state selection committee to consider the application of R Vikasini for the 2026-27 MBBS course under the management quota under the linguistic minority category, though she got the certificate after two rounds of counselling.“While the modality of availing such benefits may differ, the petitioner’s application can be considered, subject to the availability of seats,” the court said. Such being the case, the court directed the authorities to permit the petitioner to participate in future rounds of counselling upon the production of the original linguistic minority certificate, in the event any seats are available under the linguistic minority category and the petitioner is otherwise eligible, the judge said.According to the petitioner, she scored 195 marks in NEET 2026 and applied for MBBS under the management quota. While filling up the online application, she marked ‘No’ under the linguistic minority category as she hadn’t received the certificate at that point of time.However, subsequently, she was issued with the Telugu linguistic minority certificate dated Sept 22. Therefore, the petitioner addressed an email to the selection committee requesting permission to correct the application and to consider her under the linguistic minority category.Since the committee neither granted the correction nor communicated a decision, the case has been filed. Disposing of the plea, the court passed the order.
