New Delhi, January 9
In an effort to rationalise the reservation for SCs/STs in postgraduate medical courses, the Centre today moved an application in the Supreme Court to provide 22.5 per cent quota to these communities on equal basis, both in Central and state quota seats.

The application was moved as a sequel to the apex court clarifying its judgement of 2005 that it had not taken away the constitutional right of reservation to SCs/STs but had prohibited other reservations in specialised medical education.

Since the government could not implement the SC/ST reservation in the all-India postgraduate (PG) courses last year after the court had clarified its judgement of 2005, an application for enforcing it for the academic session 2007-08 was moved by it.

The apex court’s permission was necessary because it had been monitoring the PG admission under a strict annual schedule, under which the entrance test would be held on January 14.

In its 2005 verdict, though the court had said the reservation should not be provided in the all-India quota, it clarified that the SC/ST reservation would not be affected by its judgement.

It was further clarified that while SC reservation had been fixed at 15 per cent, it was 7.5 per cent for STs.

When the government counsel said an urgent hearing was required on its application to clear the air before the January 14 entrance test, a Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal put up the matter for hearing on January 12.

The court in its 2005 judgement had said there should be no reservation other than that was available under the Constitution in the specialised medical education as it involved human lives.

As a sequel to it, the government has now enacted a law extending the OBC reservation to all institutions of higher learning from 2007-08, against which the medical students had been agitating across the country.