New Delhi: The Center has asked the Supreme Court to postpone the NEET counseling for four weeks till the criteria for determining the EWS category are fixed. The Center said that it has taken a considered decision to revisit the limit of Rs. 8 lakhs annual income has been earmarked for the purpose of determining the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category for reservation in NEET admission to postgraduate medical courses.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath that a committee would be constituted to determine the criteria for EWS and it would take four weeks.
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According to an IANS report, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, assured the bench that there would be no NEET counseling till then.
Mehta said that in the matter, “I am directed to say that the government has decided to revisit the norms… we will decide within four weeks.”
The bench said that EWS reservation is a progressive and practical reservation, and the only question is whether it should be horizontal or vertical. The bench suggested that the Center may apply for it next year. Mehta said he would need to take instructions on this. Justice Chandrachud told that it is the end of November.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing the petitioners, submitted that the question is whether an income of Rs 70,000 per month can be termed as EWS, for which Justice Kant can be worked out the limitation aspect.
The top court, in its order, said: “The Center has decided to reconsider the criteria determining EWS with reference to the provisions of the Explanation to Article 15 of the Constitution inserted by the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019.”
Last month, the Supreme Court questioned the Center on adopting the OBC creamy layer criterion of annual income of Rs 8 lakh for granting reservation under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), despite not suffering from social and educational backwardness. Was.
“You are making the unequal equal by imposing a limit of Rs 8 lakh,” the top court told the Center as quoted by IANS.
Following the writ petitions challenging the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10 per cent reservation for EWS in All India Quota seats for postgraduate medical courses, reports IANS. Of the candidates selected through NEET, 15 per cent seats in MBBS and 50 per cent seats in MS and MD courses are filled through All India Quota (AIQ).
In an affidavit, the Center told the Supreme Court that its decision to fix an income ceiling of Rs 8 lakh for OBCs and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the NEET All India Quota is not arbitrary, and has to be taken considering various economic factors. was finalized after various states. The income limit of Rs 8 lakh is fixed keeping in view the diverse economic factors in different states as well as the diverse economic situation between rural and urban areas, the affidavit said.
The next date of hearing has been fixed as 6 January 2021.
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