FPJ Legal: Supreme Court says NEET PG 2021 counseling has to begin in national interest; reserves order

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on pleas relating to providing 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) and 10 per cent for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota seats for admission in NEET.

A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, before reserving its verdict, observed that the Bench has to pronounce an order taking into account "national interest," and NEET counselling has to begin in view of that.

NEET-PG counselling has been on hold as the case was pending before the top court. This led to protests by doctors against the government ; they were demanding that the hearing of the case be expedited and the counselling and admission process be completed as early as possible.

One of the aspects the court is specifically examining is the feasibility of having Rs 8 lakh as a cap to avail the EWS quota for PG medical admissions.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre contended that any revised criteria should be made applicable prospectively and the present counselling and admission should be held as per the existing criteria.

The government also defended OBC reservation as well as the Rs 8 lakh income criterion for determining EWS.

Senior advocates Arvind Datar and Shyam Divan appeared in the court on behalf of some of the candidates.

Published on: Thursday, January 06, 2022, 11:46 PM IST