NEET-PG 2022: Supreme Court lists EWS quota matter for hearing on August 2

Supreme Court will hear a plea against the 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category in government institutes for admissions through NEET-PG 2022 on August 2. The petition was filed by certain NEET PG aspirants last year, challenging the EWS reservation in the All India Quota (AIQ) for the NEET PG counselling. The aggrieved students claim that the move is disadvantageous to “meritorious” students. 

The top court had asked the government to explain why the criteria for the EWS category were set at the same margin as the creamy layer of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, at an annual family income of not more than Rs 8 lakh.  

​​The Centre had formed a three-member committee to revisit the criteria, which included Ajay Bhushan Pandey, former finance secretary, VK Malhotra, member secretary, ICSSR, and Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser to the Centre. The committee, in its report had recommended that the current limit of family income of Rs 8 lakh to qualify as avail the EWS reservation benefit be retained, calling it “reasonable for the purpose”. 

The matter is in court since almost a year. During the hearing in January 2022, after massive protests from NEET PG aspirants, who were left stranded waiting for the NEET PG 2021 counselling to begin, the top court upheld the constitutional validity of the reservation for the OBC and EWS categories in the NEET PG counselling and gave the go-ahead for the counselling to begin. However, no final decision was taken on the same.