NEET PG 2020: Supreme Court allows states to grant reservation of seats to in-service doctors

On Monday, Supreme Court has allowed the states to grant reservation of seats to in-service doctors in NEET Post Graduate degree courses. The decision was given out by a bench of 5 judges that further said that the Medical Council of India has no power to provide or not provide reservations for in-service doctors in admission to PG courses.

A bench comprising of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Indira Banerjee, Justice Vineet Saran, Justice M.R. Shah, and Justice Aniruddha Bose observed that the MCI is a creation of a statute under Entry 66 of List 1 of the Constitution and its job is to maintain the standards of medical education. The Supreme Court also suggested the candidates should serve at least five years in rural and hilly regions.

The Court has further clarified that the judgment will only apply prospectively and it will not affect any admissions already made.

The reservation criteria involve offering 15 percent seats in all government medical colleges except for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The reservation for SC is 15 percent, ST is 7.5 percent, and 27 percent for OBC category candidates. PH category candidates in each of these categories are given a 3% horizontal reservation.

The process of identification of seats will be carried out by the Counseling Authority/Committee. As per Annexure C issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for proper and effective implementation of the roster system issued by the Ministry for distribution of seats to various categories, it is necessary that all participating institutions/ Medical/ Dental Colleges convey the correct vacancy timely.

On the other hand, NBE has launched post-MBBS two-year diploma courses. The central government has recently revived these PG diploma courses that can be applied for after clearing NEET PG Exams 2020.

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