Noting that the Allahabad High Court “overstepped” its jurisdiction, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the High Court’s decision to remove the 50% institutional quota for admission to postgraduate medical courses in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Deepak Gupta further extended the time for filling the seats till June 12.
“The High Court did not take into consideration the fact that the State [Uttar Pradesh] had no power to control admission to these universities. Therefore, we are clearly of the view that the High Court overstepped its jurisdiction and the order of the High Court is erroneous and is liable to be set aside,” the court decided in a 21-page judgment.
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The court said the issue of the 50% reservation of seats was not before the High Court when it passed order on May 29. The Bench also found that AMU, BHU, Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Union of India were also not parties before the High Court.
The court held that in Central universities 100% admissions to MBBS course are based on all-India examination. There is no State quota for seats in Central universities like the AMU and the BHU or other Central institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
“These seats have to be filled up on the basis of merit and institutional preference could be given to the extent permissible, i.e., 50% , as has been held by a catena of decisions including the Constitution Bench judgment of this court in the case of Saurabh Chaudri,” the court observed.
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Incentive marks
The court also set aside the direction of the High Court denying incentive marks to MBBS doctors who had served in remote and difficult areas even though they had cleared their MBBS examination from outside Uttar Pradesh.