Centre puts NEET-PG counselling on hold

Counselling for admission to postgraduate medical and dental courses have been put on hold by the central government since some doctors have challenged the government’s July 29 decision to reserve 27% of the all-India quota seats for other backward classes and economically weaker sections.

Counselling for candidates who have cleared the National Eligibility Entrance Test – Post Graduate (NEET-PG) 2021 will not take place till the Supreme Court decides on the matter, additional solicitor general KM Nataraj told a bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna on Monday.

The October 22 notice to that effect was not meant for candidates, but for colleges to verify the seats, the government’s lawyer said. The health ministry has issued a clarification to allay the concerns of the candidates, Nataraj said.

The petitioners had expressed concern over the notification issued by the Directorate General of Health Services that informed candidates about counselling from Monday. “We were taken aback by this notice and so had to mention it before the court,” said Arvind Datar, lawyer for the petitioners.

“All candidates participating in the NEET-PG Counselling, 2021 are hereby informed that the PG Counselling is scheduled to commence from October 25,” the notice had said. “The National Medical Commission (NMC) and National Board of Examinations (NBE) have informed that new letter of permission and accreditations will be issued by November 15.”

“We will go by your word,” the court told Nataraj on Monday. “Please make sure, otherwise students will be put to great difficulty.”

After the court proceedings, the health directorate issued another notification. “All the candidates/participating colleges are informed that the counselling for NEET-PG 2021 has been put on hold due to the pending court case before the Supreme Court of India,” the fresh notice said. “Once clarifications are sought or received from the Court, the counselling for NEET-PG 2021 shall commence.”

The Court is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the July 29 decision of the government on several grounds, chief among them being breach of the 50% threshold for providing reservations laid down in 1992 by a ruling by an apex court bench of nine judges, lack of justifiable criteria to identify economically weak beneficiaries, and arbitrary announcement on reservation after the registration process for the postgraduate courses had begun.

Last week, the court had directed the central government to file an affidavit pointing to the study that went behind fixing an annual income cut-off of ₹8 lakh for identifying EWS. The court had noted that EWS quota was meant for financially poor families, as compared to OBCs, who are socially and educationally backward.

The Court had observed that the criteria of ₹8 lakh to identify the socially advanced among OBCs, known as the creamy layer, cannot be the yardstick to identify EWS beneficiaries. It also questioned having a single yardstick for the entire nation, when stark differences exist in purchasing power and per capita GDP from state to state and in rural and urban settings within states.

The EWS quota was introduced in 2019 through the 103rd Constitution Amendment Act by which a new clause was introduced in Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, providing for EWS quota in admissions and employment. The challenge to this law is pending consideration before a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court.

The Centre had told the bench hearing the NEET-PG aspirants that the issues about EWS quota fall squarely for consideration before the constitution bench.

“This court is not embarking upon any issue of policy but this court must be apprised of the nature of criterion for EWS category,” the two-judge apex court bench has said.

The Court also asked the Centre to say how the implementation of both OBC and EWS quotas was justified as reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which amount to 22.5%, is already earmarked within the all-India quota seats.

The July 29 decision applies to 50% postgraduate seats and 15% undergraduate seats under the all-India quota seats. The decision would benefit every year nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgraduate courses and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1000 EWS students in postgraduate programmes, the central government has said.

Sign on to read the HT ePaper epaper.hindustantimes.com