No good news for medicos who are waiting for the NEET PG counselling, yet. The Supreme Court bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud, that heard various petitions challenging the EWS and OBC reservations in the NEET PG All India Quota seats have reserved the judgment till January 7. While the hearing went on for almost the whole day on Thursday, the students will have to wait some more time to know the verdict and the counselling dates.
The hearing, that began at 11 am, went on until 4.30 PM, where issues including the income bracket for the EWS category and introduction of reservation for OBC students were taken up. Interestingly, Justice Chandrachud pointed out a judgment that said that there should be no reservations even on the basis of institutional preference in super-specialty courses.
READ ALSO : NEET PG issue: No word from SC on counselling yet; hearing on AIQ reservation to continue on January 6
While hearing the case yesterday, on behalf of the government, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta urged the court to give the green light for the NEET PG counselling, given the "current scenario". He said that the government's order of November 25, which followed directions by the Supreme Court to postpone the NEET PG counselling until the AIQ matter wasn't decided, did not take into account the third wave, and the urgent need of doctors in the workforce right now. The SG also submitted the report by the three-member committee which was formed to review the 8 lakh income criteria for the OBC and EWS categories, which had been challenged by the court for being 'arbitrary'.
At the same time, today, the court also heard an intervention application by the Federation of Indian Doctors (FORDA) that has been protesting the NEET-PG counselling delay relentlessly. They stated that the revision of the reservation criteria for EWS and OBC, which is coming at the very end of the process, will only lead to further delays to the counselling and final selection. However, all the parties had made their submissions on Thursday.
