NEET-PG Counselling : Supreme Court Reserves Order In EWS/OBC Case [LIVE UPDATES Of Day 2]

Justice Chandrachud : There is one doubt we have. The affidavit you filed in October, where you justified the 8 lakh criteria, you said you adopted the OBC-creamy layer criterion. You said income criteria for EWS largely followed the criteria for OBC reservation. So when you first came to the court, you said you largely followed OBC criteria. Now, what you seem to suggest in the affidavit is income tax limit is an alternate criterion. Let's compare that with the Pandey committee report.

Solicitor General in a lighter vein : When talking about statistics, I am reminded of what a Scottish poet said. Using statistics is like a drunken man using a lamp post- more for support than for illumination.

Solicitor General: When we read in real life we understand that it's impossible for him to compete with others with 70k/ month. We understand the real-life context, how costly everything is. We have the index.

Solicitor General : Ultimately what matters is common sense. From the commence perspective, is Rs 8 lakhs reasonable is the question. Rs 8 lakh is about Rs 70,000 per month. We are not in the exercise to find who is poor. The Constitution uses the word "economically weaker section". Whether economically weaker meritorius students can compete with other students, afford tuition etc, are the considerations.

SG : Mr.Datar's submissions that Pandey Committee rejected Sinhho committee is incorrect. Pandey committee examined and Sinho committee report and tweaked it.

SG on EWS :  With respec to the contention that there was no study: There was a study, application of mind, consultation b/w the govt but it was only because of your lordships intervention, this (revisiting 8 lakh criteria) study was undertaken. It was not an unstudied exercise.

Solicitor General : They cannot succeed in saying that there cannot be reservation in PG without challenging Article 15(5) and the Central Educational Institution Reservation in Admission Act, 2006. They cannot just challenge the Office Memorandum. Because the source is Article 15 and the Act. These are my submissions on OBC reservation. Now I will come to EWS.

Justice Chandrachud points out that Pradip Jain judgment says that super specialty courses there should be no reservations even on the basis of institutional preference. This means, there can be reservation in other course, Justice Chandrachud surmises.

"This sentence implies that you can have valid reservation up to PG level. The last sentence seems to indicate that", Justice Chandrachud.

SG distinguishing Pradip Jain judgment cited by Shyam Divan by saying that it dealt with institutional preference and domicile reservation.

Solicitor General : None of the judgements of your lordships even remotely suggest that there cannot be reservation in PG.