New Delhi: Supreme Court Will decide on Friday to include 27% OBC and 10% EWS Quota in medical admissions, just 16 hours after it reserved judgment on petitions challenging the extension of these two quotas for NEET-PG admissions for the 2021-22 academic session.
The Center on Thursday told the Supreme Court that there was a provision of 27% OBC quota in admission to central educational institutions since 2006 and EWS quota for more than two years and argued that it was wrong on the part of the petitioners to allege the government. to change the rules. Is. By increasing these reservations for medical admission for 2021-22 in the middle of the game.
After hearing the petitioners challenging the two quotas in Medical Admission and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta A bench of justices has proposed to resume stalled medical counseling for undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses at the earliest DY Chandrachud On the other hand, AS Bopanna reserved the decision at 4.30 pm on Thursday. The decision, to be pronounced at 10.30 am on Friday, will allow resumption of counseling with or without quota for medical seats.
On a plethora of allegations by the counsel for the petitioners questioning the rationality of extending the OBC and EWS quotas to medical admissions, the head of the meeting, Mehta Said that providing reservation to socially and economically backward classes – OBCs and EWS – is constitutionally mandated and the SC has upheld this view in several judgments more than a decade ago.
He said that the government respects the successive Supreme Court rulings against reservation in super-specialty courses and NEET-PG is not a super-specialty course. The focus of the petitioners’ arguments was against the inclusion of 10% EWS quota and an annual income criterion of Rs 8 lakh for this purpose.
Taking the government out of a difficult situation, in which the bench repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the income benchmark, Mehta said the income criterion of Rs 8 lakh prescribed to exclude the creamy layer from the benefits of EWS income criterion OBCs is very different. The quota raised by the arguments of the senior advocate Arvind Datar, the bench asked whether an annual income of Rs 5 lakh would be an appropriate benchmark for the EWS category.
Mehta said that while the annual income of Rs 8 lakh for OBCs is calculated on the basis of earnings in the last three years, the income of EWS category is the total household income of the previous year. Also, possession of five acres of land would be ineligible to be classified under EWS quota. Although he said that Ajay Bhushan Pandey Committee The recommendations accepted by the Centre, changes in the existing EWS norms will be applicable from next year.
He said that changing EWS income criteria for admission in 2021-22 academic session will further delay admissions and lead to shortage of resident doctors. Appeal to Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), Advocate Archana Pathak Dave The delay in PG admissions has resulted in almost a third of the number of resident doctors, forcing them to work for very long hours when there is a third increase of COVID patients, he said. .
“This is a genuine concern not only of the resident doctors but of the entire citizens. Your concern has been well taken up and shared by the Supreme Court,” the bench said. After the SG explained the difficulties being faced by EWS candidates, if the norms were changed, the bench said, “We understand why the Pandey committee and the Center are saying that the revised norms will be applicable from next year. ,
The SG also said that while the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that since an alternative approach is possible, the court cannot substitute a well-considered decision of the Central Government with its own approach. He said that the SC can always quash a decision if it is not in accordance with the mandate or provisions of the Constitution.
The Center on Thursday told the Supreme Court that there was a provision of 27% OBC quota in admission to central educational institutions since 2006 and EWS quota for more than two years and argued that it was wrong on the part of the petitioners to allege the government. to change the rules. Is. By increasing these reservations for medical admission for 2021-22 in the middle of the game.
After hearing the petitioners challenging the two quotas in Medical Admission and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta A bench of justices has proposed to resume stalled medical counseling for undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses at the earliest DY Chandrachud On the other hand, AS Bopanna reserved the decision at 4.30 pm on Thursday. The decision, to be pronounced at 10.30 am on Friday, will allow resumption of counseling with or without quota for medical seats.
On a plethora of allegations by the counsel for the petitioners questioning the rationality of extending the OBC and EWS quotas to medical admissions, the head of the meeting, Mehta Said that providing reservation to socially and economically backward classes – OBCs and EWS – is constitutionally mandated and the SC has upheld this view in several judgments more than a decade ago.
He said that the government respects the successive Supreme Court rulings against reservation in super-specialty courses and NEET-PG is not a super-specialty course. The focus of the petitioners’ arguments was against the inclusion of 10% EWS quota and an annual income criterion of Rs 8 lakh for this purpose.
Taking the government out of a difficult situation, in which the bench repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the income benchmark, Mehta said the income criterion of Rs 8 lakh prescribed to exclude the creamy layer from the benefits of EWS income criterion OBCs is very different. The quota raised by the arguments of the senior advocate Arvind Datar, the bench asked whether an annual income of Rs 5 lakh would be an appropriate benchmark for the EWS category.
Mehta said that while the annual income of Rs 8 lakh for OBCs is calculated on the basis of earnings in the last three years, the income of EWS category is the total household income of the previous year. Also, possession of five acres of land would be ineligible to be classified under EWS quota. Although he said that Ajay Bhushan Pandey Committee The recommendations accepted by the Centre, changes in the existing EWS norms will be applicable from next year.
He said that changing EWS income criteria for admission in 2021-22 academic session will further delay admissions and lead to shortage of resident doctors. Appeal to Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), Advocate Archana Pathak Dave The delay in PG admissions has resulted in almost a third of the number of resident doctors, forcing them to work for very long hours when there is a third increase of COVID patients, he said. .
“This is a genuine concern not only of the resident doctors but of the entire citizens. Your concern has been well taken up and shared by the Supreme Court,” the bench said. After the SG explained the difficulties being faced by EWS candidates, if the norms were changed, the bench said, “We understand why the Pandey committee and the Center are saying that the revised norms will be applicable from next year. ,
The SG also said that while the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that since an alternative approach is possible, the court cannot substitute a well-considered decision of the Central Government with its own approach. He said that the SC can always quash a decision if it is not in accordance with the mandate or provisions of the Constitution.