“So, this will not harm the chances of general category students….”, he added.Mehta also clarified that super-speciality courses have no reservation and none of the judgments remotely suggests that there cannot be reservation in PG courses. On the aspect of the EWS quota, he said there was a study, application of mind, and wide consultation when the government decided to fix the Rs 8 lakh income limit.He submitted: “We are not in the exercise to find who is poor. The Constitution uses the word economically weaker section.. whether economically weaker meritorious students can compete with other students, afford tuition etc, are the considerations.”He clarified that income in the present case is family income and if there are 3 members in the family earning Rs 3 lakh per year, then their income would be Rs 9 lakh and they would not come under the EWS category.Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing some petitioners, argued that there was no proper study undertaken to arrive at the Rs 8 lakh income limit and cited income disparities in various states. He said applying the Rs 8 lakh limit uniformly across the country is arbitrary, and this quota should be deferred to next year, instead of applying this year.Advocate Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for The Federation of Indian Doctors, said: “That every year an estimated 45,000 candidates are inducted as postgraduate doctors through the NEET-PG examination. However, in the year 2021, the said process of induction of postgraduate doctors into the medical workforce was hindered due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent delay in the holding of the NEET-PG examination.”
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