EWS quota: SC tells Centre to put NEET-PG counselling on hold

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to put on hold counselling for NEET-PG until it decided the validity of OBC and EWS reservation in All India Quota (AIQ).

In urgent mentioning of the matter before a bench presided over by Justice D Y Chandrachud, senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for petitioners, submitted that counselling schedule, as announced, began from October 24 and it would be concluded on October 29.

He sought court’s intervention in the matter stating that the process will be completed during the pendency of the matter before the court. Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj contended that the notification was with regard to seat verification.

The court, however, asked the authorities to put the counselling on hold. The top court is scheduled to consider the pending validity reservation for OBC and EWS in All India Quota seats on October 28.

Read | Revisit Rs 8 lakh criteria to determine EWS for NEET admissions: SC

On October 21, the court had questioned the Union government over adopting similar criteria of OBC creamy layers of Rs eight lakh annual income for granting reservations under the Economic Weaker Section, though it suffered from no social and educational backwardness.

The bench had then sought to know from Additional Solicitor General Nataraj by filing an affidavit, if the government had collected some demographic or sociological or socio-economic data before fixing the EWS criteria uniformly and if it had accounted for the differences in urban and rural purchasing power.

"You just cannot pull out eight lakh from thin air. You are making unequals equals by applying the Rs eight lakh limit," the bench had told the law officer.

The court had also expressed its displeasure over failure of the government to file an affidavit in this regard, despite its direction on last date of hearing on October 7.

As many as 50 per cent seats in MS and MD courses in medical colleges across the country are filled through All India Quota from the candidates selected through NEET.

The petitioners here challenged the Centre's notification of July 29 to implement OBC, and EWS reservation in NEET-All India Quota from current academic session in Post Graduate courses.