The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday stayed a single bench order directing fresh counselling for MBBS admissions in four autonomous state medical colleges, while allowing Scheduled Caste (SC) students admitted under the disputed 70 per cent quota to be adjusted against vacant seats in other colleges.
A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla passed the order while hearing a special appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh government against the August 28 single bench ruling. That judgment had quashed the 70 per cent SC quota implemented in Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Saharanpur medical colleges and ordered fresh counselling.
Appearing for the state, senior advocate J.N. Mathur argued that though the government had earlier defended the enhanced quota, it was now bound by the Uttar Pradesh Admission to Educational Institutions, Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes Act, 2006, which caps SC reservation at 21 per cent.
Mathur contended that conducting fresh counselling, as directed by the single bench, would “throw the entire admission process haywire and create chaos.” He added that 82 SC category seats were still vacant in other colleges, and students admitted under the excess quota could be shifted there to prevent uncertainty.
The bench accepted the state’s contention and ordered that SC students admitted under the 70 per cent quota be accommodated in vacant seats. It also clarified that the vacant seats in the four affected medical colleges would be offered to OBC and unreserved candidates in the second round of counselling.
The court directed the state government to file an affidavit within a week, undertaking to strictly adhere to the statutory 21 per cent SC quota from the next academic session. It warned that the benefit of its interim order would lapse if the affidavit was not filed.
The court took note that the writ petitioner, Sabra Ahmad, an OBC candidate, had already secured admission at Lakhimpur Kheri Medical College in the first round of counselling and was offered a seat at Ambedkar Nagar Medical College.
The matter has been fixed for further hearing in the second week of October, with the state required to submit details of the steps taken to comply with the interim directions.
