The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the National Eligibility Cumulative Entrance Test (NEET) All India Quota (AIQ) seats in state government medical institutions has a ‘distributive impact’ and is not in conflict with merit.
The judgment came in response to a petition challenging the Centre’s introduction of reservation for OBC and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in AIQ seats in state government medical institutions. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna ruled that competitive exams do not reflect the economic and social advantages that some classes enjoy, in the case of Neil Aurelio Nunes v. Union of India.
In a brief order on January 7, the SC had upheld the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in AIQ seats. According to the order, the AIQ scheme was devised to allot seats in state-run medical institutions. However, the validity of the criteria for determining EWS quotas will be heard in the SC later, in March.
Admissions to NEET postgraduate (PG) courses for the year 2021 will be based on the existing reservation of 27 per cent for OBCs and 10% for EWS.
