K.G. Arunraj. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Tamil Nadu Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare K.G. Arunraj on Friday (June 5, 2026) said the Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-led government remains firm on upholding Tamil Nadu’s rights and reservation policy with respect to the allocation of seats for medical education.
Dr. Arunraj’s statement came in response to Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, who on Thursday (June 4) sought the immediate intervention of the Chief Minister to prevent 152 vacant super-specialty medical seats from being surrendered to the All India Quota (AIQ).
With regard to super-specialty medical seats, out of the total 422 seats available in Tamil Nadu, 219 seats are allotted to Tamil Nadu government doctors under the State quota, while the remaining seats are allotted under the All India Quota, the Minister said.
He questioned whether Mr. Udhayanidhi was aware that in the previous years, after the completion of counselling, seats that could not be filled by Tamil Nadu government doctors under the State quota were surrendered to the All India Quota.
He also questioned whether the Leader of the Opposition was aware that, after the State government surrendered those seats in the previous years, the minimum cut-off percentage was reduced, following which those seats were filled through the All India merit list, causing a major setback to Tamil Nadu government doctors.
A total of 119 seats in 2024 and 145 seats in 2025 were surrendered to the All India Quota. The statement made by Mr. Udhayanidhi that 152 unfilled seats in 2025 were prevented from going to the All India Quota is not true, Dr. Arunraj said.
Although 151 seats under the State quota remained unfilled this year, the Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-led government refused to surrender them and presented arguments in this regard before the Supreme Court. The seats were surrendered only following the directions issued by the Supreme Court on May 29.
The State government remains firm that seats under the State quota must be filled by doctors from Tamil Nadu, and a review petition in this regard was filed by the State government in the Supreme Court on June 4, he added.
Published – June 05, 2026 04:00 pm IST
