The Karnataka High Court has quashed the seat matrix issued by the Director of Medical Education dated October 9, 2022, that reduced the reservation of seats for in-service doctors who are working in primary health centres from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.
“The quota for in-service candidates has been reduced without assigning any cogent reasons and the decision appears to have been taken in a casual and cavalier manner. The relevant facts while reduction of quota from 30 percent to 15 percent have not been considered by the State Government while reducing the quota. The impugned notification dated 06.10.2022 suffers from the vice of non application of mind and is arbitrary,” the judgment given by the HC read.
The doctors had earlier claimed that this year, the number of seats for in-service doctors has been reduced from 30 per cent to 15 per cent. The case had gone to court after Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) released PG medical and dental course seat matrices for the 2022-23 academic year on October 10. The bone of contention was over Karnataka’s share of in-service postgraduate (PG) quota, which has been reduced this year. In 2021-22, the state had 392 PG medical in-service quota seats. This year, the number is only 206, according to the details of the petition filed in the HC.
The court has further ordered the state government “to prescribe the quota for in-service candidates afresh while taking into account relevant criteria and to fill up the seats,” as per the judgment.
The KEA had earlier stayed the further rounds of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET PG) counselling and admission with regard to the aforementioned case in the court. The counselling has been stalled with immediate effect and till further notice, as the official notification by KEA states. Students who wish to access the notice can do so by visiting the official KEA website — cetonline.karnataka.gov.in/kea.
