SC restores 50% institutional quota in PG medical admissions

NEW DELHI: After this order, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and government-run medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh can go ahead with counselling for admission to PG medical courses and fill up seats by June 12, the top court said.

Photo for representational purpose only. iStock

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 7

The Supreme Court on Wednesday restored 50% institutional preference in admission to PG medical courses.

A Vacation Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, which had reserved its verdict on Tuesday, set aside the Allahabad High Court’s May 29 order quashing the 50% institutional quota in admission to PG medical courses.

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After this order, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and government-run medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh can go ahead with counselling for admission to PG medical courses and fill up seats by June 12, the top court said.

Acting on a PIL, the high court had on May 29 allowed filling up the 50 per cent institutional quota seats in PG medical courses at BHU and AMU for students from any medical college based on their NEET ranking.

The top court’s order came on petitions filed by BHU and AMU, which had challenged the high court’s order contending it went against an earlier verdict of the top court as also Medical Council of India regulations that permitted them to fill 50% seats from their own institution. MCI had supported BHU and AMU, saying the high court misinterpreted the regulations.

On behalf of BHU, Additional Solicitor-General Maninder Singh had sought immediate stay on the high court’s order.

“The entire apple cart cannot be reversed by re-opening those 50 per cent seats for students selected through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET),” Singh had said.

Singh had cited the top court’s verdict in the Saurabh Chaudhary case that laid down guidelines for PG medical admission and emphasised that only half the seats were to be filled through all-India quota. If the institutional preference for 50 per cent seats were done away with, what would happen to other premier institutes like the AIIMS and the PGI, Chandigarh, he added.

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, representing AMU, had demanded stay on the HC verdict, saying some students had already been admitted by the university under the 50% quota. Out of 195 seats for PG medical courses in AMU, admissions against 149 were over and everything could not be reversed, he said.