NEET- AIQ : Live Updates From Supreme Court Hearing Of Plea Against EWS/OBC Reservation

Datar: Recently, TN Govt appointed Justice AK Rajan Committee which says that students of state board are suffering(because of NEET)

Datar: Today taking into consideration that apart from income, no other criteria has been considered, 10% for EWS cannot be carved out for this year (for NEET-AIQ)

Datar: Today there’s no notification at all. There’s only press note.

I’ll take that Commission of Maj Sinho is considered. Only income has been considered & no other indicators

Datar: Notification of EWS is based on report by Maj Sinho. That cannot be implemented right now. Please see explanation to Art 15(5)

Justice Nagarathna: What was the pattern of seats when original notification was issued ? Were there seats for EWS? OBC ?

Datar: Please come to page 84. I’ll just check what was the original thing. In meanwhile I’ll clarify

Datar : A uniform figure of Rs 8 lakh for AIQ is arbitrary. Statistics show that per capita income vary across states. Therefore, determining the criteria for all India application requires careful study.

Datar : We did a research. For eg, Kerala has taken 4 lakhs as the income limit (for EWS). Some other states have put 8 lakhs. There is no uniform criteria.

Datar : Normally a policy is not reviewable. But the Court can go into the reasons behind the policy. If there are no reasons, the policy is subject to judicial review. We are entitled to know the reasons.

Datar : The Mandal commission had certain factors. Now when you say Rs 8 lakh limit, what are the factors you have relied on? In the counter-affidavit, they (Govt) say it is only a policy decision.

Datar : There has to be some scientific criteria to determine economically weaker sections. We are completely in the dark how this criteria has been determined.