NEET Admissions: HC stays 91 percent reservation in 4 govt medical colleges in UP
Allahabad: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has recently stayed the implementation of nearly 91 percent reservation for NEET UG admissions to MBBS courses in four government medical colleges.
However, the bench has allowed the NEET-UG counselling to proceed on the reservation percentages applicable in other government medical colleges. Therefore, counselling can continue with 21% reservation for Scheduled Castes, 2% for Scheduled Tribes and 27% for Other Backward Classes.
The HC bench comprising Justices Alok Mathur and Amitabh Kumar Rai has also issued a show-cause notice to the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, over the State's failure to comply with the reservation arrangements in line with the statutory provisions.
These directions were issued by the Court on the plea challenging the reservation arrangement for State-Quota seats in four government medical colleges- Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Saharanpur, and Jalaun-for the current academic session.
Filing the plea, the petitioners argued that the reservation arrangement was contrary to the statutory reservation framework and breached the assurance given to the High Court.
According to a TOI report, the counsel for the petitioners, Senior Advocate An Tripathi, submitted that the State Government had given an undertaking during the previous proceedings that the reservation arrangement would be brought in line with the statutory provisions from the 2026-2027 academic session. He submitted that despite this submission, the overall quota reached nearly 91% in four colleges.
Taking note of this, the HC bench issued a show-cause notice to the Additional Chief Secretary of Medical Education asking why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for allegedly failing to comply with the undertaking.
Further, the bench also stayed the 91% reservation arrangement. However, it did not halt the counselling process altogether, and allowed the authorities to proceed with admissions by applying the reservation applicable to other government medical colleges. The admissions made through the counselling, however, will remain subject to the outcome of the proceedings.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year, the Lucknow bench of the High Court had quashed the government orders that resulted in over 79 percent reservation in government medical colleges in 4 districts.
The direction came on a petition by a NEET 2025 candidate who argued that the state’s orders between 2010–2015 unlawfully pushed reservation beyond the 50% cap, leaving just seven out of 85 seats for the unreserved category. Rejecting the state’s reliance on the Indira Sawhney case, the court ruled that any hike in reservation must follow due legal process. It directed the state to refill seats strictly in line with the UP Reservation Act, 2006, ensuring the 50% ceiling is not crossed.
Back then, the HC bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia had nullified Uttar Pradesh government orders that led to reservation of over 79 per cent of seats in government medical colleges in Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun, and Saharanpur districts. The Court had also directed the State to fill the seats afresh in strict accordance with the Reservation Act of 2006, ensuring the reservation limit does not exceed the established 50 per cent cap.
