Chandigarh, Nov 29: The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the Chandigarh administration to admit MD/MS students at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, on the basis of institutional preference, ruling that the UT’s proposed school-based eligibility criterion cannot stand.
The bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor said the method suggested by the administration “prime facie cannot have the approval of the court.” The judges noted that the Supreme Court has already held that using descent or residence as a basis for reservation in postgraduate medical admissions is “impermissible.”
The UT had proposed restricting state quota eligibility to candidates who passed Classes 10, 11 and 12 from a Chandigarh-recognised school. The court said such a condition “appears impermissible,” adding that the administration is free to “revisit the policy” in line with Supreme Court rulings.
The order came on the plea of a student who argued that the UT’s criterion amounted to domicile-based reservation, violating the law laid down by the apex court. GMCH-32 has 150 MD/MS seats, half filled through the all India quota and half through the state quota.
