Shillong, Sept. 23: The Supreme Court has restored the 10 medical seats reserved for Meghalaya.
This came through an order passed by the Supreme Court which directed that the 10 medical seats be allocated to Meghalaya out of 27 seats available in Assam.
The Court passed the order after hearing a special leave petition in New Delhi on Friday. The petition was filed by the Meghalaya government against the Assam government for abolishing 10 medical seats, reserved for Meghalaya.
The petition was heard in the court of Chief Justice, Dipak Misra and Justices, A.M. Khanwilkar and D. Y. Chandrachud.
“Keeping in view the interest of Meghalaya, it is directed that 10 seats out of 27 seats shall be allocated to it. The state of Assam is allocated 17 out of 27 seats. Both the Assam and Meghalaya shall conduct counseling in an objective and appropriate manner so that the merit should be the exclusive criterion from amongst the NEET qualified candidates. Any candidate who is not qualified in NEET shall not be entitled for consideration,” the court order said.
The Court also said that if the petitioners and intervenor qualify in accordance with the merit list drawn up by the competent authority, they shall be called for counseling and seats shall be accordingly filled up.
The Court also said that barring 27 seats, no counseling should take place in respect of any other seats.
“The counseling shall be completed within 10 days from today (Friday),” the order stated.
Further, the court stated that “this is purely an interim arrangement and the controversy that has been raised in the special leave petition and the original suit shall be decided on their own merits.”
The next hearing will be held in the second week of January next year.
Assam has been reserving 10 medical seats for Meghalaya — four each in Assam Medical College and Hospital and Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and two in Silchar Medical College.
However the 10 seats reserved for Meghalaya were abolished by the Assam government by changing the rules for admission into medical colleges. The Meghalaya government filed the petition in the Supreme Court on September 4 and requested the court to retain the 10 reserved medical seats in Assam allotted to Meghalaya.
