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Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Chandigarh PG medical seats to stay with all-India pool, says High Court
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the Chandigarh administration's decision to reallocate vacant Union Territory (UT) quota seats in postgraduate (PG) medical courses to the All India Quota (AIQ), rejecting a challenge from candidates who argued the move violated a Supreme Court judgment. A division bench of Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu and Justice H.S. Grewal dismissed the petition filed by Avijit Chander and others, who had opposed a June 3 notification that diverted unfilled UT Pool seats at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Chandigarh, to the AIQ pool. The petitioners had argued these seats should have gone to the Institutional Preference (IP) category under the state quota for local candidates. Their counsel, senior advocate Gurminder Singh, said, 'While taking a complete U-turn… without any authority of law and also in complete violation of Shrey Goel's judgment, respondent No. 2 has issued the impugned public notice… wherein vacant U.T. Pool seats have been diverted to A.I.Q. against [the] maximum limit of 50%.' But the court found no merit in the claim, ruling that the matter of residence-based reservation in PG medical courses had already been settled by the Supreme Court. 'This Court is not persuaded with the arguments raised by learned senior counsel… the legal issue has already been adjudicated,' said Justice Sindhu. The case has its roots in the Supreme Court's January 29 verdict in Dr. Tanvi Behl v. Shrey Goel & Others, which struck down the practice of reserving PG medical seats on the basis of residence in UT Chandigarh. The apex court had ruled that such a reservation was 'not permissible', but allowed students already admitted or graduated to remain unaffected. Following this, the Chandigarh administration initially said in April that vacant UT Pool seats would be moved to the IP category. However, in a fresh notice on June 3, it reassigned them to the AIQ instead, sparking the present legal challenge. The petitioners argued that the administration's about-turn violated both the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court ruling and exceeded the 50% limit allowed for AIQ seats. But the high court noted that the seat matrix – 75 for AIQ and 76 for State Quota (plus four EWS) – remained within permissible limits, and that the reallocation aligned with the Supreme Court's broader emphasis on merit-based admissions. 'Consequently, there is no option, except to dismiss the petition,' the bench concluded in its order, delivered on June 10.


Time of India
27-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
HC directs admission to PG medical courses in GMCH-32 as per SC order
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court directed the Chandigarh administration to carry out admissions to PG medical courses at GMCH-32 as per the Shrey Goel Supreme Court judgment and March 24 SC order. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now On March 24, the SC held, "It was absolutely clear that residence-based reservations were not permissible for postgraduate seats in medical colleges and that only institutional preference, to a limited extent, is allowed." In the Shrey Goel judgment, it was further held, "Having made the determination that residence reservation is impermissible in PG medical courses, the state quota seats, apart from a reasonable number of institution-based reservations, have to be filled strictly on the basis of merit in the All-India examination. Thus, out of 64 seats which were to be filled by the state in its quota, 32 could be filled on the basis of institutional preference, and these are valid. But the other 32 seats earmarked as UT Chandigarh pool were wrongly filled on the basis of residence." The SC further held in the Shrey Goel judgment, "We make it clear though that our declaration of impermissibility of residence-based reservation in PG Medical courses will not affect such reservations already granted, and students are undergoing PG courses or have already passed out in the present case, from College, Chandigarh. We do this simply because now there is an equity in favour of such students who must have already completed the course. " The high court held, "The issue of the reservation in the post graduate medical courses has been put to rest by the Supreme Court in the Shrey Goel SC judgment. In the opinion of this court, once the matter(s) has been delved into by a Judge Bench of the Supreme Court, it is proscribed from raking up the same controversy again." MSID:: 121443225 413 |