HC nullifies 79% reservation in govt medical colleges in four U.P. districts

The Allahabad High Court has nullified Uttar Pradesh government orders that led to reservation of over 79% of seats in government medical colleges in Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun, and Saharanpur districts.

The Lucknow Bench of the court has directed the State to fill the seats afresh in strict accordance with the Reservation Act of 2006, ensuring the reservation limit does not exceed the established 50% cap.

The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia on Thursday in response to a petition filed by NEET candidate Sabra Ahmed.

The petitioner, who scored 523 marks with an all-India rank of 29,061 in NEET-2025, argued that a series of government orders issued between 2010 and 2015 had unlawfully increased the reservation limit.

The petition highlighted that in these colleges, which have 85 seats each in the state government quota, only seven seats were being allocated to the unreserved category.

This was presented as a clear violation of the long-standing principle that reservation should not exceed 50%.

The State government and the Director General of Medical Education and Training opposed the petition, citing the Indira Sawhney case to argue that the 50% limit was not absolute and could be exceeded.

However, the court rejected this argument, stating that any increase in the reservation limit must be done in accordance with proper legal procedures and rules.