Gujarat High Court reserves order on scrapping of NRI quota in medical courses

The Gujarat High Court on Monday, reserved its order on petitions challenging a government ordinance abolishing the quota for non-resident Indians in medical courses.

A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi reserved the order after petitioners submitted written submissions as directed by the court.

Five petitioners, including a group of self-financed dental colleges and four NRI admission-seekers, have challenged the constitutional validity of Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016.

The ordinance does away with 15 per cent quota for NRI students in medical, para-medical and dental courses.

The petitioners have claimed that it goes against the Supreme Court's order in the P A Inamdar case which created this quota.

The government contended before the court that it has the powers to scrap this quota, and its policy is not to encourage NRIs to take admission in medical colleges in the state as these students later show reluctance to serve as junior doctors in rural areas during the mandatory internship.

While abolishing the NRI quota, the government has increased the management quota in these colleges from 10 to 25 per cent.

Under the NRI quota, students from outside the state are also eligible as per the Supreme Court order, according to the petitioners. In Gujarat, NRI students whose families hail from the state, were given preference over those who have roots outside, but the high court last year held such a distinction was illegal.