NRI quota in private medical colleges not sacrosanct, rules SC

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 9

The NRI quota in PG medical and dental courses was not sacrosanct in any given academic year and private medical colleges were not obligated to earmark such seats for admissions, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled on Friday.

If a medical college or institution or the state regulating authority decided to do away with such a quota, a reasonable notice of such a decision be issued to enable those aspiring for such seats to go elsewhere, it said.

The verdict by a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat upheld the decision of the Rajasthan High Court’s Division Bench which ruled that private colleges were not obligated to earmark NRI quota up to the extent of 15% of total seats.

Referring to a seven-judge 2005 verdict in PA Inamdar versus State of Maharashtra, it said a plain reading of the judgment revealed that "a provision for 15 per cent NRI quota was not compulsory; it was only potential."

"..it is evident that the NRI quota is neither sacrosanct nor inviolable in terms of existence in any given year, or its extent," it said.

There was nothing in the 2005 verdict to say that a 15 per cent NRI quota was an unqualified and unalterable part of the admission process in postgraduate medical courses, the top court said.

"It was and remains within the discretionary authority of the management of private medical colleges within their internal policy making domain," it clarified.