NEET PG: Kerala High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking To Quash State Circular Granting 27% Reservation To SEBC

The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a plea moved by MBBS graduates challenging a circular issued by the State government increasing reservation for the socially and economically backward classes (SEBC) from 9% to 27% in medical postgraduate courses.

After having elaborately heard the matter over the course of the past couple of months,  Justice N Nagaresh dismissed the plea today.

The petitioners were a group of doctors eligible for postgraduate courses in various disciplines and had appeared for the NEET-PG examination in 2021. Their primary contention was that a recent revision of the number of seats to various reserved categories as provided by a recent State circular is in violation of constitutional norms causing serious prejudice to the merit candidates.

There are a total of 833 seats for PG courses out of which 427 seats are filled up from the rank list prepared by the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations. Out of the total seats allotted to the State, 9% is reserved for socially, educationally backward classes as notified by the State.

On 20th October 2021, the State government issued a circular revising the reservation pattern of seats for the admission of postgraduate medical courses in the state by enhancing the SEBC reservation quota from 2021-2022. The circular proposes to increase SEBC Reservation from 9% to 27%, thereby reducing the merit seats for the general candidates to 38%.

The petition filed through Advocates S. Sujin and Nitha N.S. pointed out that the Supreme Court had considered the constitutionality of reservations in the postgraduate and super speciality courses on various occasions and has established that at these levels, reservations have to be minimal. Therefore, they contended that the decision of the State goes against the spirit and content of the Supreme Court decision.

Reliance was placed on another Apex Court decision of Dr. Preethi Sreevasthava v. State of MP where it was explicitly laid down that reservation at the super specialisation level would lead to dilution of merit.

It was further argued that when the Central Government introduced 27% reservation for the backward classes in 1990, the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney case had upheld the reservation but had held that if the merit reservation of 9% for SEBC was not adequate or sufficient to provide the required percentage in the postgraduate courses in a State, reasons must be provided for the same.

However, according to the petitioners, no details are available nor any consideration on the aspect before the decision is taken by the State.

They added that the position in Kerala is different from that of other States since, in certain specialised disciplines, the SEBC candidates are adequately represented as candidates from other communities secure admission under the merit quota. Thus they alleged that the respondents had failed to apply the basic principles of reservation before the decision is taken to increase the reservation for SEC candidates.

Accordingly, the petitioners prayed that the circular be quashed and a direction be issued to the respondents to prepare the selection list for admission to the postgraduate courses for 2020-2021 unfettered by the impugned circular.

At a previous hearing, while referring to a plethora of decisions, Senior Advocate Sukumaran appearing for the petitioners had brought the Court's attention to the fact that several similar matters are already pending before the Supreme Court.

Case Title: Dr. Sreeparvathy & Ors. v Commissioner of Entrance Examinations & Anr.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 9

Click Here To Read/Download The Order