AIIMS institutional preference system for PG admissions challenged in SC

New Delhi: Observing that the court 'cannot order the government to do this or that in matters of policy', Supreme Court has issued notice in the Writ Petition challenging the existing system for institutional preference for Post-Graduate admissions (PG admissions) in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and listed the matter for January 10.

The writ petition was filed by AIIMS student association.

The petition was drafted by Advocate Pranjal Kishore and filed by Advocate on Record Aditya Jain with senior Advocate Arvind Datar appearing for the petitioners.

The bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B.R.Gavai has listed the matter to be heard on January 10, 2022, along with a similar petition which challenges the institutional preference system.

As per the present system of institutional preference, MBBS students from AIIMS are eligible for preference in 50% of the post-graduate seats, if they meet certain criteria. This is based on the Supreme Court judgments in AIIMS Students Union v AIIMS ((2002) 1 SCC 428) and Saurabh Chaudri and Ors v Union of India, (2003) 11 SCC 14.

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According to a media report in Live Law, the petitioners stated that seats for all popular courses get filled up in AIIMS by the time the allocation of seats through institutional preference takes place. Because of this, students from AIIMS do not opt for admissions through institutional preference.

The petition further stated that as per an RTI response, between 2017-2021, only 50 AIIMS students took admission through institutional preference. The petitioners have added that the roster system followed by Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) should be applied to AIIMS post-graduate admissions too.

According to the roster system, 19 of the first 100 seats are assigned for admission through institutional reservation. The petitioner stated that this ensures that JIPMER students are able to take admission in popular clinical courses.

Even though the existing system is constitutionally valid it is based on the Court's judgment in AIIMS Students Union (2001), the petitioners argued that a lot has changed since a number of AIIMS and the number of post-graduate seats has increased; a number of new categories of reservation – OBC,EWS, PWD etc. have come up since the judgment was introduced.

The Court struck down the then system of institutional reservation at AIIMS in the AIIMS Student Union Case (2001). However, the court had stated that AIIMS students would be eligible for preference against 25% of the total seats subject to them fulfilling certain conditions.

Similarly, in Saurabh Chaudri and Ors v Union of India, (2003), modifying the Judgment in AIIMS Students Union, the court noted that AIIMS Students would be entitled to preference against 50% seats.

The advocate for the petitioners argued that the SC judgment in the Saurabh Chaudri case has become meaningless, adding that AIIMS should follow the roster system adopted by JIPMER since both AIIMS and JIPMER are institutes of national importance.

He stated, "The AIIMS Academic Committee said the model followed by the JIPMER is the correct method. They referred it for Legal Opinion which says unless the Supreme Court gives a direction we cannot implement the JIPMER policy here."

However, Justice Rao expressed the court's reservation in issuing a mandamus in the matters even if there was merit in the Counsel's submissions, noting,

"We cannot order the government to do this or that in matters of policy."

The matter is next listed on 10.01.2022 along with a similar matter in Writ Petition 1329/2021 which challenges the institutional preference system, reports Live Law.

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