NEET-EWS conflict: Supreme Court okays OBC, EWS quotas in NEET this year

The 27 percent reservation for other backward classes (OBC) and 10 percent reservation for the economically weaker section will be implemented in the All India Quota (AIQ) in NEET exam in 2022, the Supreme Court ordered on January 7.

The court said it is upholding the constitutional validity of 27 percent OBC reservation in NEET PG and NEET UG. For EWS, the 10 percent quota will apply in 2022, and the prospective ruling will be decided on a final hearing in March.

The apex court that completed the hearing on Thursday pronounced the order virtually in an open court. The Court has pronounced that the EWS criteria will remain the same for 2022, Shashank Ratnoo, one of the advocates in the case, told Moneycontrol.

It means, the stalled counselling of the NEET PG and NEET UG admissions will resume soon ending months of delay and weeks of protests from resident doctors in several parts of the country.

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The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the government and a medical counselling committee notice issued in July, providing a 10 percent quota for the EWS category in NEET admissions.

The government has informed the Supreme Court that it will review the ‘criteria’ for EWS for reservation in educational institutions and jobs. The statement followed a set of petitions challenging the income limit criterion of EWS at Rs 8 lakh per annum. The case came in the context of admission to medical colleges through the NEET exam.

To be sure, the EWS quota of the government is still facing legal challenges on its validity, and petitions are still pending in the court.