Revisit Rs 8 lakh criteria to determine EWS for NEET admissions: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Union government for adopting criteria similar to OBC creamy layer of Rs eight lakh annual income for granting reservations under the Economic Weaker Sections, though this category suffered from no social and educational backwardness.

"For OBCs, people who are below eight lakh annual income, they suffer from social and educational backwardness. Under the constitutional scheme, the EWS category is not socially and educationally backward," a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Chandrachud said.

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The bench sought to know from Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj if the government had collected some demographic or sociological or socio-economic data before fixing the EWS criteria uniformly and if it had accounted for the differences in urban and rural purchasing power.

"You just cannot pull out eight lakh from thin air. You are making unequal equals by applying the Rs eight lakh limit," the bench told the law officer.

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The court asked the Centre if it undertook any exercise before arriving at the criteria and if it was based on the Sinho commission report.

The court also expressed its displeasure over the failure of the government to file an affidavit in this regard, despite its direction on the last date of hearing on October 7.

It was hearing a batch of petitions by Neil Aurelio Nunes and others challenging the Centre's notification of July 29 to implement OBC and EWS reservation in NEET-All India Quota from the current academic session in Post Graduate courses in medical colleges across the country.

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As many as 15% seats in MBBS and 50% seats in MS and MD courses in medical colleges are filled through all India quotas from the candidates selected in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.

The court, which warned to stay the notification, finally gave time to the Centre to file its response and posted the matter for consideration on October 28.

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