New Delhi: The Supreme Court today allowed the resumption of counseling for NEET-PG and UG courses for the academic session of 2021-2022 as per existing reservation norms.
The apex court upheld the constitutional validity of 27 per cent reservation for OBC (other backward classes) and 10 per cent for EWS (economically weaker sections) categories for admission to medical courses for this year and allowed resumption of NEET-PG counselling.
The Rs 8 lakh income criteria to identify EWS beneficiaries has also been allowed for this year.Ā The court decided to examine the validity of the EWS criteria as laid down by the Pandey Committee and listed the batch of petitions for hearing in the third week of March. While reserving its order on Thursday, the court said the counselling needed to begin in national interest.
In the previous hearing, held last week, the government told the court existing criteria to identify EWS beneficiaries would be retained for this academic year.
The government said changing norms at this time – when admissions and allocation of colleges for NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) students are ongoing – will lead to complications.