Plea in Supreme Court seeks reduction in qualifying percentile for admission to Ayurveda course

The petition was registered in front of the bench of Judges DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant On Friday, the bench ordered the same to be entered with the plea challenging the center’s decision not to lower the percentile for BDS courses.

It may be noted that the Supreme Court on Wednesday requested the Center’s response in a plea by filing a counter affidavit stating:

• Total eligible applicants after deduction of admission granted to MBBS courses (BDS courses)
• Total number of vacant seats in All India Quota and State Quota
• The number of seats left in government colleges on the one hand and private/reputable colleges on the other hand.

Lawyer Shivam Singh appeared for the applicant and the application was filed by AOR Neeraj Shekhar.

The petitioners, while seeking to extend the last admission date for the 2021-22 academic year, argued that admissions to Ayurveda courses are conducted by a joint NEET-2021 conducted for MBBS/BDS courses /AYUSH.

Referring to the order dated April 29, 2022 in which the Supreme Court requested the Center to consider lowering the percentile for BDS courses, the motion states that “if the percentile is reduced/considered for reduction for the BDS course, then the percentile can also be reduced for the Ayurveda program allowing the Applicant to take admissions.”

To further support their assertion, the claimants referred to the judgment in Harshit Agarwal & Ors v UOI in which the court observed that the lowering of the minimum marks and the reduction of the admission percentile in the first year BDS course would not revert not to lower education standards. and ordered to lower the percentile mark by 10 percentiles for admission to the first year of the BDS course for the 2020-21 academic year.

Case Title: Amit Kumar v UOI & Ors | WP (civil) 351/2022