reservation - Central News Hub

Centre offers 27% OBC quota, 10% for EWS in medical admission

The reservation is meant for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year (2021-22) onwards….reports Asian Lite News

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare decided on Thursday to provide 27 per cent reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 10 per cent reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) scheme for medical courses.

The reservation is meant for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses — MBBS, MD, MS, Diploma, BDS and MDS — from the current academic year (2021-22) onwards.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting held on July 26 had directed the concerned Union ministries to facilitate an effective solution to this long-pending issue.

Soon after the decision, Modi lauded the step in a series of tweets, saying: “Our government has taken a landmark decision for providing 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections in the All India Quota scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses from the current academic year.

“This will immensely help thousands of our youth every year get better opportunities and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.”

The decision would benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgraduation courses, besides benefiting around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in postgraduation couses every year.

The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court to provide for domicile-free, merit-based opportunities to students from any state to study in a medical college located in another state.

The AIQ consists of 15 per cent of total available undergraduate seats and 50 per cent of total available post-graduate seats in the government medical colleges.

Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ scheme up to 2007.

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In 2007, the Supreme Court had introduced 15 per cent reservation for SCs and 7.5 per cent reservation for STs in the AIQ scheme.

When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act became effective in 2007, providing for uniform 27 per cent reservation to OBCs, the same was implemented in all the Central Educational Institutions such as the Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Harding Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University etc.

However, this was not extended to the AIQ seats of state medical and dental colleges.

Being a Central scheme, the Central list of OBCs shall be used for this reservation. Around 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 in post-graduation will benefit through this reservation.

In order to provide benefit to students belonging to the EWS category in admission to higher educational institutions, a constitutional amendment was made in 2019 which enabled the provision of 10 per cent reservation for the EWS category.

Accordingly, seats in medical and dental colleges were increased over two years in 2019-20 and 2020-21 to accommodate this additional 10 per cent EWS reservation so that the total number of seats available for unreserved category did not reduce.

During the last six years, MBBS seats in the country have increased by 56 per cent from 54,348 in 2014 to 84,649 in 2020, while the number of PG seats have increased by 80 per cent from 30,191 in 2014 to 54,275 in 2020.

During the same period, 179 new medical colleges have been established and now the country has 558 medical colleges, including 289 colleges and 269 private institutions.

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Apex Court quashes Maratha reservation law

A five-judge Constitution bench, by a unanimous view, also ruled out any need to reconsider the 1992 nine-judge bench judgement in Indra Sawhney (Mandal Commission) case…reports Asian Lite News

In a major decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday termed the 2018 Maharashtra law, providing reservations to Marathas in jobs and education, as unconstitutional, and struck it down for violating the 50 per cent cap on quota and the fundamental right to equality.

A five-judge Constitution bench, by a unanimous view, also ruled out any need to reconsider the 1992 nine-judge bench judgement in Indra Sawhney (Mandal Commission) case, which fixed 50 per cent ceiling on reservation. “We have found that no extraordinary circumstances were made out in granting separate reservation of Maratha community by exceeding the 50 per cent ceiling limit of reservation,” the top court noted.

The 569-page verdict may likely have far-reaching consequences on pending challenges to the validity of the Centre’s 10 percent Economic Weaker Section quota, and Tamil Nadu’s law for up to 69 percent reservation for the OBC. Against the backdrop of this verdict, the governments would have to prove exceptional circumstances to support their move.

The top court said the 2018 Maharashtra Act violates the principle of equality as enshrined in Article 16. The exceeding of ceiling limit without there being any extra-ordinary circumstances clearly violates Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution which makes the enactment ultra vires, it added.

Several states had demanded review for the nine-judge bench decision in view of subsequent developments and change in social dynamics.

But the court stayed unmoved.

Justice Ashok Bhushan writing on behalf of himself, and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer said: “There can be no quarrel that society changes, law changes, and people change but that does not mean that something which is good and proven to be beneficial in maintaining equality in the society should also be changed in the name of change alone.”

The Constitution bench, presided over by Justice Bhushan, observed that the pre-condition for breaching 50 per cent limit on quota under Article 16(4) like extra-ordinary and exceptional circumstances was not fulfilled in granting 12 percent and 13 percent reservation to Marathas in jobs and education, respectively.

“The representation of Marathas in public services in Grade A, B, C and D comes to 33.23 per cent, 29.03 per cent, 37.06 per cent and 36.53 per cent, computed from out of the open category filled posts, is adequate and satisfactory representation of Maratha community,” it noted.

“One community bagging such number of posts in public services is a matter of pride for the community and its representation in no manner can be said to not adequate in public services,” the top court said, also pointing out that Gaikwad Commission’s data showed that Marathas are not a socially and educationally backward class.

The other judges on the bench — Justices L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and S. Ravindra Bhat agreed that Maratha quota was unconstitutional, and no review of 50 per cent cap is required.

The five-judge Constitution bench upheld validity of the 102nd Amendment which granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes.

However, Justices Bhushan and Nazeer’s point of view of was not agreed by other three judges who held the state was empowered to identify the backward class for granting quota.

Justice Rao said there is no obscurity in Article 342 A (1), instead it very clear that there should be one list of socially and educationally backward classes which may be issued by the President.

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