Editor's Pick: SC nod to NEET counselling; EWS norms review in March

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) counselling to proceed so as to not “dislocate” medical admissions this year. The court also upheld the 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10% for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) seats in accordance with a July 29, 2021 government order. There would be no further debate on this aspect. The ₹8 lakh gross annual family income limit criterion for identifying the EWS, as originally notified by a January 2019 official memorandum and recommended for retention by the government-appointed former Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey-led Expert Committee on December 31, 2021, would be now implemented for the admission year 2021-2022. The question of the validity of the EWS criteria, including the ₹8 lakh income threshold, which have to be implemented in this year’s NEET counselling so as not to upset medical admissions for 2021-2022, would be heard finally and decided upon by the Supreme Court in the third week of March, a Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna noted in its interim order. Justice Chandrachud clarified orally to the parties that “we have upheld the constitutional validity of the 27% reservation for the OBCs. On the EWS criteria, we have said for this year, the criteria which was notified earlier [January 2019] shall continue to operate to ensure that the admission process for this year shall not be dislocated”. The judge continued, “prospectively, and for the future, we will hear the petitions finally on the EWS criteria in the third week of March and rule on that. The ruling will then apply prospectively and for the future”. Pronouncing the operative directions in the interim order, the court noted the “urgent need to commence the process of NEET counselling” for 2021-2022. The case concerns petitions filed by doctors in August 2021 against the July 29, 2021 notification issued by the Directorate General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health implementing 27% and 10% reservation for the OBC and EWS categories respectively while filling 15% undergraduate and 50% postgraduate AIQ seats under NEET. In December, over 4,000 resident doctors of the Central Government-run Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Medical College boycotted work in Delhi, as a protest against the delay in PG NEET counselling. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association said the doctors boycotted work except for COVID-19 duties. On Friday, pronouncing the operative directions in the interim order, the court said any further and prospective recommendations made by the Pandey committee, modifying the criteria in the January 2019 memorandum, would be subject to the final result of the adjudication of the case in court. In an editorial, The Hindu had held that the submission by the committee that the annual family income of ₹8 lakh is “a reasonable” threshold to determine if someone belongs to economically weaker sections to avail 10% reservations in admissions and jobs did not seem to hold water. It said, for instance, that the government had not responded to the key question – whether it would be arbitrary to provide the same income limit both for the OBC and EWS categories. The Supreme Court's interim order that allows NEET counselling for this year even as the country grapples with the third wave of COVID-19 makes it an important story. The Hindu Editorials A serious lapse: On PM security breach On the boil: On Kazakhstan unrest Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. Click here Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Who is the solicitor general of India? 1. Mukul Rohatgi 2. Prashant Bhushan 3. Tushar Mehta 4. K. K. Venugopal To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 08 JANUARY 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( SC nod to NEET counselling; EWS norms review in March [SC nod to NEET counselling; EWS norms review in March] The [Supreme Court on Friday allowed National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) counselling to proceed]( so as to not “dislocate” medical admissions this year. The court also upheld the 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10% for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) seats in accordance with a July 29, 2021 government order. There would be no further debate on this aspect. The ₹8 lakh gross annual family income limit criterion for identifying the EWS, as originally notified by a January 2019 official memorandum and recommended for retention by the government-appointed former Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey-led Expert Committee on December 31, 2021, would be now implemented for the admission year 2021-2022. The question of the validity of the EWS criteria, including the ₹8 lakh income threshold, which have to be implemented in this year’s NEET counselling so as not to upset medical admissions for 2021-2022, would be heard finally and decided upon by the Supreme Court in the third week of March, a Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna noted in its interim order. Justice Chandrachud clarified orally to the parties that “we have upheld the constitutional validity of the 27% reservation for the OBCs. On the EWS criteria, we have said for this year, the criteria which was notified earlier [January 2019] shall continue to operate to ensure that the admission process for this year shall not be dislocated”. The judge continued, “prospectively, and for the future, we will hear the petitions finally on the EWS criteria in the third week of March and rule on that. The ruling will then apply prospectively and for the future”. Pronouncing the operative directions in the interim order, the court noted the “urgent need to commence the process of NEET counselling” for 2021-2022.   The case concerns petitions filed by doctors in August 2021 against the July 29, 2021 notification issued by the Directorate General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health implementing 27% and 10% reservation for the OBC and EWS categories respectively while filling 15% undergraduate and 50% postgraduate AIQ seats under NEET. In December, over 4,000 resident doctors of the Central Government-run Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Medical College [boycotted work in Delhi, as a protest against the delay in PG NEET counselling](. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association said the doctors boycotted work except for COVID-19 duties. On Friday, pronouncing the operative directions in the interim order, the court said any further and prospective recommendations made by the Pandey committee, modifying the criteria in the January 2019 memorandum, would be subject to the final result of the adjudication of the case in court. In an editorial, The Hindu had held that the submission by the committee that the annual family income of ₹8 lakh is “a reasonable” threshold to determine if someone belongs to economically weaker sections to avail 10% reservations in admissions and jobs did not seem to hold water. It said, for instance, that [the government had not responded to the key question]( – whether it would be arbitrary to provide the same income limit both for the OBC and EWS categories. The Supreme Court's interim order that allows NEET counselling for this year even as the country grapples with the third wave of COVID-19 makes it an important story.  [underlineimg] The Hindu Editorials [Arrow][A serious lapse: On PM security breach]( [Arrow][On the boil: On Kazakhstan unrest]( [underlineimg] Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here]( [underlineimg] Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Who is the solicitor general of India? 1. Mukul Rohatgi 2. Prashant Bhushan 3. Tushar Mehta 4. K. K. Venugopal To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here](. 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