‘EWS income criteria different from income criteria of ₹8L’

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Meeting head on a fusillade of charges from counsel for petitioners questioning the rationality of extending OBC and EWS quota to medical admission, Mehta said that providing reservation to socially and economically backward classes — OBC and EWS — is constitutionally imperative and the SC in a string of judgments more than a decade ago has upheld this view.

He said the government respects the SC’s consistent rulings against reservation in super-speciality courses and that NEET-PG is not a superspeciality course. The focus of the arguments by petitioners was against inclusion of 10% EWS quota and the ₹8 lakh annual income criteria for the purpose. Extricating the government from a difficult situation, Mehta said the EWS income criteria is very different from the income criteria of ₹8 lakh fixed for weeding out creamy layer from cornering benefits of the OBC quota.