NEET UG, PG Counselling 2021 Updates: SC gives nod to OBC, EWS quota in NEET-PG admissions

Head of career counselling at Allen Career Institute, Kota, Parijat Mishra, said, “The court’s decision is a well-thought verdict. But, the general category seats should not be reduced while implementing the EWS, OBC quota. Many premier institutes have introduced supernumerary seats to increase the seats and introduce reservations. Medical colleges will have to follow suit.” Read more. 

AIIMS Rishikesh Professor, Dr Amit Gupta, told indianexpress.com that the verdict is aimed at expediting the induction of doctors in hospitals in view of the third wave of Covid-19. “Last year, no batch of resident doctors was taken onboard. The third wave has already arrived and the hospitals are not equipped with enough doctors to handle the workload. With the declaration, NEET-PG counselling is expected to be fast-tracked and a fresh cadre of doctors will join the hospitals,” Gupta said. Read more. 

The stakeholders have shared mixed reactions to the apex court’s verdict allowing the resumption of medical counselling for NEET-PG admissions for the year 2021-22 and uphold the validity of 27 per cent OBC quota and 10 per cent reservation for the EWS category. Read more. 

A Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna also accepted the recommendations of the Ajay Bhushan Pandey Committee and stuck to the Rs 8 lakh income cut-off for identifying those eligible for the EWS quota for the current admission cycle.

- 50 per cent seats in government colleges of all states except J&K
- 100 per cent seats of central universities (Aligarh Muslim University/ Banaras Hindu University/ University of Delhi/ central institutes) inclusive of all India quota seats + institutional quota seats.
- 100 per cent seats of deemed universities.
50 per cent PG seats of colleges under Employee State Insurance Corporation (for wards of ESIC insured persons).
- All PG seats of armed forces medical services institutions (only registration part).

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on October 25 postponed the NEET PG counselling which was scheduled to begin on October 25. The counselling had been put on hold due to the pending court case before the Supreme Court of India. The aspirants were eagerly waiting for the top court's decision on the challenge to 27 per cent reservation for OBC and 10 per cent for EWS category in PG All India Quota seats (MBBS/BDS and MD/MS/MDS) from the current academic session.

SC had asked the Centre to explain what exercise it had undertaken to arrive at the Rs 8-lakh criteria. Responding to this, the Centre told the court on November 25, 2021, that it will revisit the criteria and sought four weeks’ time to complete the exercise.

Resultingly, it appointed a three-member committee comprising former Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Member Secretary ICSSR V K Malhotra and Principal Economic Advisor to the government Sanjeev Sanyal. The committee submitted its report on December 31, 2021, recommending that the Rs 8-lakh limit, which has continued since 2019, may be retained, but suggested some changes regarding application for the same.

It also favoured continuing with the existing system as the admission process was already on and that, if disturbed at the end or fag-end, would create more complications than expected — both for the beneficiaries as well as for the authorities.

Large-scale protests were held by resident doctors of various hospitals under the banner of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) in Delhi and other parts of the country over the delay in the NEET-PG counselling, which has been postponed due to the pendency of the case and the Centre deciding to revisit the criterion for the determination of the EWS quota.

Petitioners in the matter had challenged the July 29 notification of the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) providing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and 10 per cent for the EWS category in the NEET-UG and PG (All India Quota).

The Supreme Court on Friday gave its nod to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate and Postgraduate (NEET-PG) admissions while upholding the 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent for the economically weaker sections (EWS) for 2021-22.