SC upholds OBC reservation in NEET-AIQ, says reservation not at odds with merit
New Delhi, January 20: On OBC reservation in NEET-AIQ, the Supreme Court on Thursday said merit could not be reduced to the definition of performance in open competitive examination and merit should be socially contextualised.
The Supreme Court said open competitive examinations only provided formal equality of opportunities. These observations were part of a detailed order passed by the apex court in the matter concerning the 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 (AIQ) seats for the admission in the NEET for all medical seats.
A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud made the observation while passing its detailed order on upholding the 27 per cent quota for OBC in National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) All India Quota (AIQ) seats.
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The top court also said examinations were not a proxy for merit and merit should be socially contextualised and re-conceptualised. "Reservation is not at odds with merit, but furthers its distributive impact, " the apex court said.
The Supreme Court also clarified that the Central Government was not required to seek the permission of the court to reserve seats in All India Quota. On January 7, the Supreme Court allowed NEET-PG counselling for 2021-2022 based on existing EWS/OBC reservation criteria.
The apex court had given a green signal to 27 per cent reservation for OBC and 10 per cent for EWS category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) seats for the admission process in the NEET as existing criteria this year.
However, for the EWS category, the Supreme Court had said the 10 per cent criteria, which was notified earlier, should continue to operate for this year so that the admissions process should not be dislocated for the current academic year.
The court had said it would hear the matter relating to the EWS later and listed it for the third week in March. The court had noted that there was an urgent need to commence the process of counselling and therefore it issued some interim direction.
The court had earlier reserved its order on pleas relating to providing 27 per cent reservation for OBC and 10 per cent for EWS category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) seats for the admission in the NEET for all medical seats.
On December 31, the Centre filed an affidavit stating that it has decided to stick to the existing criteria of Rs 8 lakh annual income limit for determination of 10 per cent EWS reservation with respect to the ongoing admissions to the NEET postgraduate courses.
The Centre had informed the apex court that an expert committee constituted by the government to reassess the criteria, suggested that the existing criteria may be continued for ongoing admissions while the revised criteria suggested by the Committee might be adopted from the next admission cycle.
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-PTC News
