Supreme Court allows OBC and EWS in NEET
GS Paper - 2 (Polity)
The Supreme Court, in an interim order, has announced that it will allow NEET-PG Counselling for 2021-2022 based on existing EWS, OBC reservation. The Supreme Court said that it will allow 27% reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) and 10% for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) seats for admission in the NEET for all medical seats as existing criteria this year.
What
- The apex court has listed petitions challenging ₹8 lakh income criteria for EWS on 5 March for final adjudication.
- EWS criteria for academic year 2021-22 for NEET-PG will be notified, and for future it will be subject to final adjudication.
- The bench said that detailed reasons for the interim order will follow and the counselling for the NEET-PG for the academic year 2021-22 will proceed as per the criteria already notified.
- The bench said that validity of criteria of ₹8 lakh for determination of EWS for future years will be subject to final adjudication of the batch of petitions and listed the pleas for final hearing on 5 March.
- Justifying the application of ₹8 lakh income criteria for the EWS category, Govt. said the decision was arrived at after due deliberation by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Flashback
- The 10% reservation was introduced through the 103rd Constitution Amendment and enforced in January 2019.
- It added Clause (6) to Article 15 to empower the Government to introduce special provisions for the EWS among citizens except those in the classes that already enjoy reservation.
- It allows reservation in educational institutions, both public and private, whether aided or unaided, excluding those run by minority institutions, up to a maximum of 10%.
- It also added Clause (6) to Article 16 to facilitate reservation in employment. The new clauses make it clear that the EWS reservation will be in addition to the existing reservation.
