Call off stir, engaged with SC to solve EWS quota issue: Centre

Call off stir, engaged with SC to solve EWS quota issue: Centre

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:29.12.2021

Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday urged resident doctors to call off their strike over the delay in NEET-PG counselling in the larger interest of the public and said the Centre is engaged with the Supreme Court to quickly resolve the issue regarding the EWS quota.

In a meeting with the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (Forda), Mandaviya assured all requisite steps are being taken by the government and a suitable reply with respect to the EWS report will be submitted to the SC before the scheduled date of hearing on January 6. “We are not able to do the counselling because the matter is sub judice before the Supreme Court. The Government of India will submit a reply to the apex court before the scheduled date of hearing on January 6. We request the court to expedite the issue so that the counselling can be started at the earliest,” he said.

The apex court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the government and a medical counselling committee (MCC) notice issued in July, providing 10% quota for the EWS (economically weaker sections) category and reservation for OBC (Other Backward Classes) in the All India Quota (AIQ) in medical admission through NEET. It has raised questions on the EWS income limit criteria and in the process the counselling process for NEET-PG has been stalled.

As per the legislation ratified by Parliament in January 2019, a general category student or candidate whose family income is less than Rs 8 lakh per year is eligible for EWS reservation.

While a set of petitions have challenged the income limit criterion of EWS at Rs 8 lakh per annum, the government told the SC in November that it will re-examine the limit with a committee headed by former finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey going into it. However, that would mean the counselling for the NEET post-graduate medical courses will be further postponed by four weeks.

The legal deadlock has in turn resulted in uncertainties for MBBS aspirants as well as resident doctors seeking admission to PG degrees. A large number of resident doctors on Tuesday protested on the premises of the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital.

MANDAVIYA SAYS

We are not able to do the counselling because the matter is sub judice before the Supreme Court