[BREAKING] NEET-PG Counselling : Supreme Court Agrees To Hear EWS Case Tomorrow After Centre's Request For Urgent Listing

The Chief Justice of India on Tuesday agreed to list the case related to EWS reservation in NEET All India Quota tomorrow. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before the CJI today morning seeking an urgent listing of the case in view of the protests by the resident doctors against the delay in NEET-PG counselling.

"It concerns EWS of society. There's a statement made by us which prevents further counselling of resident doctors", SG submitted.

CJI NV Ramana said that the case was being dealt with by a 3-judge bench. But this week, being a miscellaneous week, only has two-judge benches(except the bench of CJI). However, the CJI said that he will try to constitute a special bench of three judges and post the matter tomorrow. If a 3-judge bench combination is not available, the matter will be listed before a division bench, the CJI assured.

"The problem is it's a 3 judge bench matter, this entire week is a miscellaneous week. Let me see if tomorrow, some judge is available, we'll constitute a bench. Let me see. If possible I'll constitute a three-judge bench or it will go before a Division bench tomorrow", CJI told the Solicitor General.

"Resident doctors are protesting and their concerns are genuine", Solicitor General added.

Yesterday, the Solicitor General had mentioned the matter before Justice DY Chandrachud seeking urgent listing of the case tomorrow. Justice Chandrachud then said that he will consult with the Chief Justice of India. However, the matter was not listed today.

The case relates to the challenge against the validity of the Centre's decision to introduce OBC/EWS reservation in the All India Quota of NEET admissions. During the hearing, the Supreme Court raised doubts regarding the reasonableness of the Rupees 8 lakh gross annual income limit adopted by the Centre to determine EWS cut-off.

On November 25, the Centre agreed to revisit the EWS criteria in the light of the Court's concerns and decided to formulate a Committee to examine the issue. The Centre sought for weeks time to complete the exercise. Accordingly, the Supreme Court had then adjourned the case to January 6, 2022.

Last week, the Centre filed an affidavit saying that the Committee has recommended the retention of the existing EWS criteria for the ongoing admissions and that it has accepted the said recommendation.

In the Report on Review of the Criteria for EWS Reservation, the Committee opined that disturbing the existing system which is ongoing since 2019 at the fag end would create more complications than expected both for the beneficiaries as well as for the authorities. In this regard, the Committee has recommended introducing the new criteria from the next academic year.