NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that domicile-based reservations in PG Medical seats is impermissible as it is unconstitutional for being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The verdict highlighted that the PG medical admissions under state quotas must solely be on a merit basis in the NEET exam.
"Residence-based reservation in Post Graduate (PG) medical courses is clearly violative of Article 14 of the Constitution," said, a three-judge bench of the apex court, led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy, and Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and SVN Bhatti.
The top court pronounced the judgment after hearing the case filed in 2019 involving Tanvi Behl and Shrey Goel.
While citing the law laid down in the previous judgments in Pradeep Jain, and Saurabh Chandra cases, the apex court said, "We are all domiciles in the territory of India. There is nothing like a provincial or state domicile. There is only one domicile. We are all residents of India."
The top court in its verdict also clarfied that its judgement will not affect the domicile reservation granted already.
"Students who are undergoing PG courses and those who have already passed out from such residence category would not be affected by the verdict," the apex court said.
It also stressed the right to choose residence anywhere in India and to carry out trade and profession anywhere in the country.
"Constitution gives us the right to choose admission in educational institutions across India," the apex court said.