‘Fraud must end,’ SC junks Punjab’s plea against HC verdict

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal against a high court verdict quashing its decision to expand the definition of ‘NRI quota’ for admissions in undergraduate medical and dental courses in the state. “This fraud must come to an end now,” the apex court said. On September 10, the Punjab and Haryana High Court trashed the AAP-led government’s August 20 move to include distant relatives“such as uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins” of NRIs for admissions under the 15 per cent quota for this group in admissions in state medical colleges.

“This is nothing but a money spinning machine,” observed a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. “We will dismiss all the petitions. This NRI business is nothing but a fraud. We will put an end to all this.... now the so called precedents must give way to primacy of law,” said the bench. Terming the high court verdict “absolutely right,” the court said, “Look at the deleterious consequences... the candidates who have three times higher marks will lose admission (in NEET-UG courses).” The top court said distant relatives of a ‘mama, tai, taya,’ who are settled abroad, will get admissions ahead of meritorious candidates andthis cannotbe allowed.

“This is completely a fraud. And this is what we are doing with our education system !...We will affirm the high court judgement. We must stop this NRI quota business now. The judges know what they are dealing with. The high court has dealt with the case threadbare,” the CJI said.

“Let us put a lid on this...what is this word? You just have to say that I am looking after X ... We cannot lend our authority to something which is blatantly illegal,” the bench said while dismissing the plea of the state government. Senior advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for the Punjab government, said that other states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh also followed the broader interpretation of the term ‘NRI quota.’

Moreover, the states have the power to decide as to how 15 per cent NRI quota has to be granted. Out of total NEET-UG seats, 85 per cent seats in medical colleges are filled up by the states in medical colleges under their jurisdiction, the counsel, in favour of NRI quota, told the bench.

The bench said now the central government will have to take note of this as well. A division bench of the high court had come out with an elaborate judgement trashing the state government decision to broaden the ambit of NRI quota for admissions in Punjab medical colleges.

The high court took note of the submissions that the decision to widen the ambit of NRI quota was taken to divert the seats which would have otherwise come to the general category applicants. “Imparting education is not an economic activity but a welfare-oriented endeavour as the ultimate aim is to achieve an egalitarian and prosperous society in order to bring about social transformation and upliftment of the nation.