The Supreme Court today delivered its much-awaited order on the NEET-PG counselling issue. Upholding the Centre’s decision to avail 27% reservation for the OBC and 10% reservations for the EWS (economically weaker sections), the apex court stated that the counselling must go ahead with criteria as notified by the central government earlier.
BIG NEWS: #SupremeCourt allows NEET PG & UG counselling this year with 27% OBC and 10% EWS reservation with criteria as notified by the govt earlier. 8 lakh limit for EWS to continue as usual. EWS criteria final validity to be adjudicated in 3rd week of March, 2022 https://t.co/VpkQ3u3FfX
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) January 7, 2022
The Supreme Court has also allowed the 8 lakh annual income limit for the EWS, as of now. The final verdict on the EWS criteria is to be decided on the third week of March.
It is notable here that resident doctors all over the country were protesting against the delays in NEET-PG counselling because the first year PG batch is yet to join, delayed by a year. As final year PG students are to pass and move on by March-April, the second-year students were the ones facing the burden of back to back duty and prolonged working hours in hospitals and medical colleges.
The NEET-PG exams too were delayed by over 8 months in 2021.
Under the new system, 27% of seats were to be reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). The reservation was to apply to the seats that were ‘surrendered’ to the Central govt by State medical colleges in the 50% All India Quota. After the reservation policy was questioned in Court, the Central government conceded that the students would be in a serious problem if the counselling began before the matter was resolved. “The counselling process will not begin till the court decides the pending batch of petitions,” the ASG KM Nataraj had submitted in Court.
On October 21, a Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna had asked the Centre to reconsider the cap of ₹8 lac for determining a student’s eligibility under the EWS quota in NEET PG Counseling. 5 days later on October 26, the Centre justified the annual income bar of ₹8 lacs and added that it was based on the ‘National Cost of Living Index’.
Reportedly, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment also stated that the decision was in line with Article 14, Article 15, and Article 16 of the Indian Constitution.
