New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has struck down domicile-based reservation of seats for postgraduate medical courses – within the State quota – ruling it violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The ruling is critical since it ensures that admission to PG medical courses – under quotas allotted to various states – can only be on merit, i.e., on NEET, or National Eligibility / Entrance Test, scores.
A bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, and Justice SVN Bhatti said that as citizens and residents of India “we have the right to choose residence anywhere… the Constitution also gives us the right to choose admission in educational institutions across India.”
“We are all domiciles in the territory of India. There is nothing like a provincial or state domicile… there is only one domicile. We are all residents of India. We have the right to choose residence anywhere in India and to carry out trade and profession anywhere in the country,” the court said.
“Constitution also gives us the right to choose admission in educational institutions across India.”
The court acknowledged reservations may be contemplated “for those who reside in a particular state”, but only in undergraduate courses. “… considering the importance of specialised doctors, reservation in higher levels – on the basis of residence – would be violative of Article 14.”
However, in an important aside, the court also said today’s judgment would not affect domicile-based reservations already granted, and that students who had completed their degrees based on such selection criteria would not be affected either.
This case dates back to 2019, when a two-judge bench of the court heard appeals from a ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which ruled similarly, i.e., domicile-based reservations for PG medical courses are unconstitutional. However, the court, recongising the importance of the situation, the two-judge bench referred the matter to a three-judge bench.