The row over the economically weaker section (EWS) criterion for NEET PG shows no signs of abating even as the counselling for the 2021 is about to end. At present, the Supreme Court is hearing a legal battle, stemming from the Centre’s decision to set Rs 8 lakh as the income cap to decide eligibility for the quota. The apex court will hold the final hearing in July.
The delay in hearing the plea regarding the quota row is caused due to summer vacations in the court. While listing the matter, an apex court bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice PS Narasimha said the case needed to be heard by a combination bench of three judges, possible only after the summer vacations in July.
EWS QUOTA ROW
The Centre’s move to set Rs 8 lakh as the income limit to decide eligibility under the EWS quota was challenged in the top court by a group of NEET PG aspirants. Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing the aspirants, said the government had lifted the Rs 8 lakh-cap, set earlier for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) creamy layer and adopted for the EWS, for NEET PG 2022.
Earlier, the Centre had appointed a panel to decide the income criteria to decide eligibility for the EWS quota. The three-member committee included former Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, ICSSR Member Secretary VK Malhotra, and Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal. The panel recommended Rs 8 lakh as the income limit to qualify for the quota.
On January 20, the top court, in its reasoned order, said merit could not be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in a competitive examination that only provides formal equality of opportunity while upholding the 27% reservation for OBCs in all-India quota seats in the NEET-UG and NEET-PG medical courses.