State quota vs domicile quota: Supreme Court order on NEET PG reservation explained

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court held the residence-based reservation in NEET PG medical seats as “unconstitutional” and ordered the state quota seats to be filled based on the merit and rank obtained in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET PG).

The NEET PG SC judgment received mixed reactions from students, graduates, and academics. While some hailed the apex court order, others have opposed the removal of reservation for state domicile students. Citing the reduction in NEET PG cut-off percentile to zero, an X user urged the top court to scrap all reservations and offer admissions purely based on merit.

There has been a lot of misinformation and confusion regarding the NEET PG reservation rule for state counselling that is being circulated in social media, especially a few implying that the state quota is removed. Some have conflated the terms 'residence-based reservation' and 'state quota', creating confusion among students.

To better understand the admission process, let’s take a look at what the Supreme Court order on the NEET PG residence quota rule says.

What is residence-based quota in NEET PG?

All seats in the participating medical and dental colleges are filled based on the NEET PG rank published by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). Of which, 50% of seats are filled by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the All India quota (AIQ) and the remaining 50% are filled by the respective state counselling committees under the state quota.

To be eligible for the 50% NEET PG state quota, a candidate should have completed MBBS, one-year rotatory internship, fulfill the cut-off criteria, and should produce the domicile or nativity certificate.

The 50% state quota reservation varies from state to state and even for private and government-run colleges within a particular state. Some states require NEET PG aspirants to have studied at least 4-5 years, in the state to claim a seat under the quota.

Residence reservation violates Article 14

Taking note of this, the Supreme Court states, “The benefit of ‘reservation’ in educational institutions, including medical colleges to those who reside in a particular state, can be given to a certain degree only in MBBS courses.”

“But considering the importance of specialist doctors in PG medical course, reservation at the higher level based on ‘residence’ would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Article 14 of the Constitution of India guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the law to all people in India.

"If such a reservation is permitted then it would be an invasion of the fundamental rights of several students, who are being treated unequally simply for the reasons that they belong to a different State in the Union! This would be a violation of the equality clause in Article 14 of the Constitution and would amount to a denial of equality before the law," the bench comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Sudhanshu Dhulia, and SVN Bhatti said on Wednesday.

In December last year, the Telangana High Court revoked the state government’s domicile rule mandating at least four consecutive schooling in the state for availing the state quota seats in PG medical admissions.

SC allows institution-based reservation

Reiterating that residence-based reservation are impermissible in PG medical courses, the top court allowed the states to offer a reasonable number of institution-based reservations. This implies, apart from a “reasonable number of institution-based reservations”, the state counselling committees have to fill seats strictly based on merit in the NEET PG exam.

What changes in NEET PG state quota?

Referring to the order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the distribution of 50% State Quota seats, the Supreme Court explained the reservation policy. Candidates who have passed their MBBS exam from Government Medical College and Hospital Chandigarh will be considered under the institution-based reservation.

Under the UT, Chandigarh pool, candidates who have studied for 5 years in the Union Territory of Chandigarh at any time before the last date of the submission of the application, or whose parents have resided for 5 years, or have an immovable property in the region will be eligible.

Out of the total 64 seats that were to be filled by the state, 32 could have been filled based on institutional preference, and these are valid. “But the other 32 seats earmarked as UT Chandigarh pool were wrongly filled based on residence, and we uphold the findings of the High Court on this crucial aspect,” the apex court said.

“Our declaration of impermissibility of residence-based reservation in PG Medical courses will not affect such reservations already granted, and students are undergoing PG courses or have already passed out in the present case, from Government Medical College, Chandigarh. We do this simply because now there is an equity in favour of such students who must have already completed the course,” the Supreme Court order read.

NEET PG domicile quota

Most of the states deem candidates who have done MBBS from an institute within the state to eligible participate in the state-level counselling. However, some states also include the students domiciled (depending on their respective definition of nativity) in the state, even if they did MBBS from outside, in this process.

While some of these states don't have any specific quota for these candidates - though they may insist that those seeking admission under social reservation categories belong to the respective state-specific caste group - others have reservations for either state-wide candidates or those hailing for particular regions of the state.

Also read MCC NEET PG Counselling: Aspirants demand round 4 or stray vacancy upgrade, fear MP lag may cost seats

In contrast, some states have a more open counselling process, allowing non-domiciled and even those who did MBBS from outside the state to participate in state rounds, though this provision is usually limited for admission to private colleges.

According to Muzaffar Khan, a Thane (Maharashtra)-based medical education counsellor, with the Supreme Court striking down domicile or residence-based reservations, the states won't be able to continue with their domicile or regional quotas. He suggests that they may even not be able to exclusively confer eligibility on those domicile students who didn't study in the state at undergraduate level.

“The judgement is unlikely to affect the prevalent criterion of requiring candidates to have done MBBS from the state, as the court has allowed 'a reasonable number' of institution-based reservations, which refer to the seats set aside for candidates graduating from the institute to which they are seeking admission. While earlier the states considered only those students who completed MBBS from colleges affiliated to the state medical university for the state quota, even deemed university graduates were later added to the pool of eligible candidates,” Khan added.