NEET-PG counselling has to start in national interest: SC
NEW DELHI: Counselling for NEET-PG courses has to begin in the national interest, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it reserved its order on a demand by the Centre to hold counselling on the basis of its July 29, 2021 notification granting 10% reservation to the economically weaker section (EWS) in the general category and 27% quota for other backward classes (OBC) in the All India Quota (AIQ) seats. The court will pronounce its decision on Friday.
A bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, which heard the matter for two consecutive days, said, “In national interest, counselling has to begin” as it finished hearing the petitioners on their challenge to the July 29 order and the submissions by the Centre in support of the decision.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre informed the court that while OBC reservation has been provided in central educational institutions under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, the EWS quota, which was introduced by the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act 2019, has been applied in postgraduate admissions in central education institutes and in appointments. He submitted that the challenge in these petitions cannot be sustained as the basis for the July 29 order was the 2006 Act and Article 15(6) introduced by the 103rd Constitution Amendment, 2019.
By a January 17, 2019 notification, EWS was defined as persons having annual family income below ₹8 lakh. Those with five-acre agricultural land or a residential flat of 1,000 square feet also stood excluded from getting EWS benefits.
The bench made pointed queries to the Centre on arriving at the ₹8 lakh figure to identify EWS when income tax exemption is available to persons earning up to ₹2.5 lakh per annum and with rebate up to a maximum of ₹5 lakh per annum.
The court also wished to know from the Centre what consultation was done prior to the January 17 notification prescribing the ₹8 lakh income limit for EWS as the decision to introduce EWS quota in jobs and admissions was decided three days earlier on January 14, 2019.