Conversion of Chandigarh UT Quota NEET PG Seats to All India Quota Challenged in Supreme Court
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: A contempt plea has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the decision to convert Union Territory quota seats of Chandigarh as All India Quota seats. The plea alleged that this conversion violated the Supreme Court order in the case of Tanvi Behl v. Shrey Goel.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in the case of Tanvi Behl v. Shrey Goel, the Apex Court had held that domicile-based reservations for postgraduate medical admission could not be allowed as it violated Article 14 of the Constitution.
After hearing the matter on Tuesday, the top court bench comprising Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh placed it before Chief Justice of India BR Gavai for listing before the appropriate bench (comprising judges who passed the order in Tanvi Behl v. Shrey Goel case).
"We can't do anything. It's only proper that being a contempt, it goes to the same judge...who is sitting on June 7...the admissions are over now, they can be reversed if there's breach," Justice Viswanathan was quoted noting by Live Law.
In Tanvi Behl case, the Apex Court bench had held reservation for PG medical admission could only be permitted for institutional preference. Back then, the Supreme Court bench had also held that the State quota seats would be filled up based on the merit in the National Eligibility-Entrance Test (NEET) Exam.
The Apex Court bench had passed this order while considering appeals against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had struck-down residence-based reservation in PG medical courses in the Government Medical College, Chandigarh.
After the Supreme Court order, the UT administration in April had said that the vacant UT pool seats would be moved to the Institutional Preference category. However, a fresh notice was issued on June 3 and these seats were reassigned to the All India Quota instead.
This decision was challenged before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, arguing that it violated the Supreme Court order. However, the HC bench comprising Justices Mahabir Singh Sindhu and H.S. Grewal dismissed the plea and upheld the decision of the Chandigarh administration to reallocate the vacant Union Territory (UT) quota seats in the PG medical courses to the All India Quota seats.
Consequently, earlier this month, a contempt plea was filed in this connection before the Supreme Court. As per the latest media report by Live Law, in the recent hearing, AoR Jagjit Singh Chhara appeared for the petitioners and submitted that after the judgment in Tanvi Behl, initially a public notice was issued on 09.04.2025 announcing that all the remaining seats for the Third State Counselling of Union Territory Pool State Quota in Chandigarh would be converted and filled through Institutional Preference Pool of State Quota seats for 2024-2025 session based on NEET PG 2024 marks.
However, another notice was issued on 03.06.2025 stating that the seats would be filled on an All-India basis through All India NEET-PG 2024 by inviting fresh applications. Referring to this, the counsel argued that not even one seat from the State quota could be given to the All India quota.
On the other hand, the Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, the counsel for the Union Government, asserted that there was no contempt of the Tanvi Behl judgment. The ASG contended that even though the domicile State quota was quashed in Tanvi Behl, the order did not stipulate how the 25% of the seats would be filled.
She also submitted that the seats in question have already been filled and the students who have been allotted those seats under the AIQ are currently submitting their marksheets. Ultimately, the matter was placed before the CJI.
Also Read: Chandigarh PG Medical Admissions: HC Upholds Reallocation of UT Quota Seats to AIQ
