Allahabad HC strikes down over 79% reservation in UP medical colleges

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court has invalidated Uttar Pradesh government orders that resulted in reservation exceeding 79% in government medical colleges located in Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun, and Saharanpur districts.

The Lucknow bench of the court directed the state government to refill the seats strictly following the Reservation Act of 2006, ensuring the reservation cap does not surpass the legally mandated 50% limit.

The verdict was pronounced by a bench led by Justice Pankaj Bhatia on Thursday, in response to a petition filed by NEET candidate Sabra Ahmed. Ahmed, who secured 523 marks and an all-India rank of 29,061 in NEET-2025, challenged a series of government orders issued between 2010 and 2015 that allegedly raised the reservation percentage unlawfully.

The petition pointed out that in these colleges, each having 85 seats under the state government quota, only seven seats were allocated to the unreserved category. This was presented as a blatant violation of the well-established principle that reservation must not exceed 50 percent.

The state government and the Director General of Medical Education and Training opposed the petition, referencing the landmark Indira Sawhney case to argue that the 50% reservation limit was not absolute and could be exceeded under certain conditions.

However, the court dismissed this contention, emphasizing that any increase beyond the 50% reservation threshold must strictly comply with proper legal procedures and statutory rules.

The ruling mandates the state to reallocate seats in accordance with the Reservation Act, reinforcing the legal cap on reservations in medical college admissions in these districts.

With PTI inputs