The Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to respond to a petition challenging the decision to provide 27% quota to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 10% reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the All India Quota category for NEET admissions.
A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli issued notice, returnable by September 20, to the government on the petition filed by Neil Aurelio Nunes and others.
The petition has sought to quash a July 29 notification announcing the reservation policy.
The quota covers undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses, starting from the current academic year. The government believes the quota policy would help marginalised sections get better opportunities.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar, for the petitioners, said the notification raises the question whether ₹8 lakh should be the criteria for considering the EWS category.
The petition also said it had to be examined whether there would be vertical or horizontal reservation.
The petitioners contended that the selection process had already begun for the academic year and could not be interfered with. The implementation of the quota policy now would cause grave injustice, they contended.
