Is Govt violating Central Reservation Act by not implementing OBC reservation in MBBS admissions?

Recently, serious questions have been raised over central government’s stand in implementing 27 percent reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in MBBS/ PG admission in All Indian quota in the state surrender seats. The students are protesting over NTA’s (National Testing Agency) clarification regarding implementation of OBC reservation, where it stated that reservation cannot be implemented as the case is pending in Supreme Court.

The central government earlier this week in the Parliament said that the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) which conducts counselling for admission to MBBS through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam has not received any complaint about the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 not being implemented in admissions to MBBS courses.

Madras HC asks govt to clarify stand on OBC reservation

A retired Madras High Court judge has submitted his report to the Tamil Nadu government that NEET is favouring the students from rich backgrounds and students from rural areas are not getting selected for the MBBS courses. According to him, this will result in fewer doctors available in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu in the future as the rich students would not like to serve in the rural places.

The Madras High Court has also slammed the centre for its disobedience of July 27, 2020, judgment favouring (Backward Classes) BC reservation in All India Quota (AIQ).

The court has given one week time to the government for showing how they are implementing these reservations in the admission process. The court has even stated that non-implementation of the OBC reservation can not be a choice with the union government.

Students Federation lodges complaint

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Students Federation has lodged a complaint with the National Commission for Backward Classes, SC, ST Commission, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The students' group has alleged that the Deemed universities guidelines for OBC reservation are not being followed.

As per Atul Khobragade, Founder and President of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Students Federation, the central government is not implementing the OBC reservation in medical admissions. As per him, while the SC/ST reservation is being followed but OBC are not getting the allocated reserved seats.

The Federation has received a letter from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes State Office, here is a copy of the letter:

NeXT can replace NEET PG

As per the reports, The National Medical Council (NMC) is all set to conduct the National Exit Test (NeXT) exam from 2023. The exam will be for the final year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). The exam syllabus will be based on the undergraduate course and it will be an online exam.

The former Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan had introduced the National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2019. NeXT might replace NEET-PG as per the government's plan for one nation one exam.

Is the government listening?

The students from the backward classes are demanding the OBC reservation from this year. They have claimed that due to the non-implementation of the OBC reservation, the OBC students are losing thousands of seats every year.

The government is planning to implement the OBC reservation from the current academic year. However, they still intend that the reservation should not exceed the limit of 50 per cent, excluding EWS quota.

Read more:

• Madras HC slams centre over non-Implementation of OBC reservation in Medical Admissions
• No complaint on reserved category MBBS seats going to general, says Health Ministry
• NEET drives away poor, alleges retired Madras High Court judge