The Punjab and Haryana High Court has put an end to domicile-based reservations in postgraduate (PG) medical admissions at Chandigarh’s Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector-32.
In a judgement delivered yesterday, on May 27, the court directed that all state quota seats — beyond institutional preference allowances — be filled purely on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) PG 2024 merit.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel dismissed four writ petitions, including one filed by Shubhamdeep Singh Kang. The verdict affirms the Supreme Court of India’s stance in Dr Tanvi Behl vs Shrey Goel, which deemed residence-based quotas for PG courses unconstitutional.
As The Indian Express reports, the Union Territory (UT) Administration had attempted to reclassify unfilled UT Pool seats into the Institutional Preference Pool for Round 3 counselling.
The High Court struck this down, citing a public notice dated April 9 and stating that the move contradicted the apex court’s March 24 directive, which had also imposed a Rs 10,000 penalty on the UT for seeking clarification.
The judgement notably ruled that only candidates who were admitted and continued their education under the earlier reservation system are entitled to protection. Since Kang had surrendered his seat after initial counselling rounds in hopes of a better offer, he was not granted this safeguard.
The court remarked, “In light of such voluntary act of surrender, it cannot be said that the petitioner was pursuing the course...”
According to The Indian Express, the decision is likely to influence policies in other regions with similar frameworks, reaffirming the principle of meritocracy in medical admissions. For Chandigarh aspirants, this ruling means domicile will no longer be a deciding factor in securing Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Master of Surgery (MS) seats at GMCH.
