A batch of pleas challenging the applicability of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) criteria of Rs 8 lakh annual income for NEET-PG admissions will be heard by the Supreme Court in July, the top court informed on Thursday, May 19.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and PS Narasimha informed that the matter needs to be heard by a combination of three-judge bench and it would not be possible to hear it when the summer vacations are on.
The matter will be heard once the court is reopened, the bench said, as per a report in PTI.
Appearing for NEET aspirants, Senior advocate Arvind Datar said that the NEET-PG 2022-23 will be conducted soon and the only issue that remains is the determination of the income criteria of Rs 8 lakh fixed by the government, whether it is applicable or not.
He informed that what the government has done is lifted the Rs 8 lakh income criteria fixed for the creamy layer in OBC and adopted it for the EWS.
“We have already shown there is a huge disparity in the per capita income. Now all the pleadings are complete. We have filed our written submissions and their (Centre) counter affidavit is also on record. The case is ready for final disposal,” he said, as quoted in a report by PTI.
It was back on February 14 that the top court had refused to entertain a plea that sought clarification on the applicability of EWS criteria of Rs 8 lakh in NEET-PG 2022-23 saying it is seized of the matter and whatever it decides will be applicable.
The top court had said, “We have not stalled the process of determining the EWS criteria for next academic year. We have said EWS quota will be as per our order. We have kept the matter in March for disposal. The process cannot stop. Whatever we will decide will apply.”
In its reasoned order, on January 20, the Supreme Court stated that merit cannot be reduced to narrow meanings of performance in an exam that is open and competitive which gives formal quality of opportunity, while it upheld 27 per cent of Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in All India Quota (AIQ) seats in the NEET for UG and PG medical courses.
Justifying allowing quota for EWS on the existing quota for the current academic year, the bench had said, “We are still in the midst of the pandemic and any delay in the recruitment of doctors would impact the ability to manage the pandemic. Hence, it is necessary to avoid any further delays in the admission process and allow counselling to begin immediately”.
About the EWS quota, the top court said that it is a settled principle of law that in matters involving a challenge to the constitutionality of legislation or a rule, the Court must be wary to pass an interim order unless the Court is convinced that the rules are prima facie arbitrary.
While listing the matter in the third week of March, the bench said, “...as a result, we allow the implementation of EWS reservation in AIQ seats in NEET UG and PG seats for the academic year of 2021-2022. The EWS category shall be identified in view of the criteria in Office Memorandum of 2019."
Then, on January 7, the top court, citing an "urgent need" to begin the admission process, the top court paved the way for commencing the stalled NEET-PG 2021 counselling process based on the existing 27 per cent OBC and 10 per cent EWS reservations in the All India Quota seats.
A three-member committee — Ajay Bhushan Pandey, former Finance Secretary; VK Malhotra, member secretary, ICSSR, and Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser to the Centre — was constituted by the Centre to revisit the criteria for determining EWS.
The committee in its report, submitted on December 31 last year to the Centre, said, "The current gross annual family income limit for EWS of Rs eight lakh or less may be retained. In other words, only those families whose annual income is up to Rs 8 lakh would be eligible to get the benefit of EWS reservation."
The Centre mentioned that it decided to accept the recommendations of the panel to retain the current gross annual family income limit for defining EWS at Rs 8 lakh or less.
It also told the court that according to the panel, family income is a "feasible criterion" for defining EWS, and in the current situation, a threshold of Rs eight lakh seems reasonable for the purpose.
