Andhra Pradesh High Court stays Government Order 94

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of GO No 94 issued on August 6, 2024, by the State government allocating 10% of seats to EWS under the convener quota in all private medical colleges except those run by minority institutions.

Hearing the petitions filed by P Charisham of Vizianagaram district, A Sai Venkata Aditya and Y Mrudulatha of Guntur challenging the GO, stating that it was unconstitutional, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice C Ravi, directed the government not to proceed with the implementation of the GO in any form. The court opined that the GO violated the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines. It concurred with the argument of the petitioners’ counsel Tagore Yadav that to implement the 10% EWS reservation, the number of seats should be increased in the ratio of different categories with the NMC permission.

He argued that the way GO 94 was issued, 10% of seats in the general category would be decreased. It would be a great loss to the petitioners and people like them. Further, the GO was also against the Supreme Court verdict in the Janhit Abhiyan case, and the government had kept the GO confidential, he pointed out.

Special Government Pleader S Pranathi contended that the GO was issued as per the NMC orders. In the orders, the NMC said seats in private colleges would not be increased, and the EWS quota should be implemented in the existing seats only. The petitioners should challenge the NMC orders as the private medical colleges need to apply to the NMC for additional seats, she said.

The petitioners’ counsel submitted to the court that the private medical colleges had approached the NMC for additional seats, and after visiting those colleges, the NMC rejected their request citing lack of adequate infrastructure.

Appearing for the NMC, S Vivek Chandrasekhar submitted to the court that they did not reject the implementation of EWS reservation, and are ready to allocate additional seats for the colleges having the necessary infrastructure. All colleges were asked to improve their infrastructure as per the NMC guidelines. They have the authority to permit up to 50 seats, and that too will be given as per the ratio of different categories, he informed.

After hearing the arguments, the court stayed the GO despite several appeals by the Special Government Pleader not to stay the implementation of the GO, stating that they would file a counter with full details. However, the court allowed the government to file the counter and adjourned the case hearing to August 20.