Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday suspended a clause under GO No 550 regarding filling up of a medical seat in the merit category that is vacated by a student in the reserved category.
A division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice T. Rajani were dealing with a petition by one A. Harshvardhan and others seeking to declare GO Rt. No. 550 of July 30, 2001, as illegal. According to the petitioners, Para 5(2) of GO 550 stipulated that a candidate belonging to a reserved community who had secured a merit rank and had chosen a branch or college as per his choice in open competition would be permitted to slide to any better branch or college under the reserved quota. The resultant vacancy would be treated as reserved.
The bench suspended the clause relying on a judgement of the Supreme Court in Rameshram v. Union of India. The bench directed the NTR University of Health Sciences, Convener Neet-2017 to file their counter affidavits.
Mr K. Ramesh Babu, counsel, said that though the petitioners had secured high marks they were unable to get admission due the clause. He said that the apex court in Rameshram in 2010 had made it clear that reservations should not cross 50 per cent. Due to the clause, more than 50 per cent seats were being filled by candidates from reserved categories.
The bench adjourned the case to September 18.
