SC restores institutional quota in BHU, AMU

The Supreme Court on Wednesday restored the 50 per cent in-house institutional preference seats in postgraduate medical courses at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and other government medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh.

Setting aside the May 29 Allahabad High Court order asking these institutions to go for admissions as per the merit list of National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test 2017, the court also extended the time for filling up the vacant seats in BHU, AMU and government run medical colleges/institutions till June 12.

The court also said that all those granted admission prior to May 29 High Court order "shall be permitted to continue in their respective courses".

Holding that high court had gone beyond its jurisdiction, a vacation bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Deepak Gupta also set aside "all consequential action taken by the State of UP and/or any other authority pursuant to that order".

"We are clearly of the view that the high court has over stepped its jurisdiction and went beyond the scope of the writ petition while issuing the direction relating to AMU and BHU," Justice Gupta said pronouncing the judgments.

The apex court also said that the high court order had "set at naught the entire selection process only two days before the last date of admissions ..." even as it "raked up" the issue without any material before it.

It also faulted the high court for not considering the apex court verdicts "upholding institutional preferences in central universities".

Noting that neither BHU nor AMU were parties before it, the top court said that "50 per cent institutional reservation in AMU and BHU, which had been reflected in their prospectus, was not challenged by anybody before the high court".

While May 29 order affected these central universities, the court noted that both Medical Council of India and the Central government were not parties before the high court and the candidates already selected for post-graduate courses and affected by May 29 order too were not made party to the case.

The apex court also criticised the High Court for holding that only those doctors who have served in remote and difficult areas under Provincial Medical Health Services and had done their MBBS/BDS from medical institutions based in Uttar Pradesh were entitled 10 per cent weightage of marks.

The court said that incentive marks were for the doctors who belonged to Provincial Medical Health Services cadre and have served in remote and difficult areas irrespective of whether they have done their MBBS from Uttar Pradesh or outside the state.

Describing it as an "artificial distinction", the top court said: "We, therefore, see no reason as to why the benefit of weightage ... should be limited to those in service candidates of the PMHS category, who have graduated from within the State of UP."

--IANS

pk/vd