The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it has decided to revisit the criteria of Rs 8 lakh annual income limit for the EWS category and a fresh decision will be taken within the 4 weeks. Solicitor General assures the court that the counselling for NEET won't take place until then. SG Tushar Mehta has stated that a period of 4 weeks would be required for this exercise and pending its conclusion, the date of counselling shall stand postponed.

The decision to review came after Supreme Court recently questioned the Centre on the basis for fixing an annual of Rs 8 lakh for the economically weaker sections category, which is the same for determining the creamy layer for OBCs. SC had asked if it had conducted a study or exercise before taking the decision. The court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to implement EWS reservation in the All India Quota for medical admissions.

SC recently raised the question on how the same income criteria could be applied across the country. How can a person’s earning in a small town or village be equated with those earning the same income in a metro city, it asked. The petition said per capita income of states are different and applying the same criteria may not be reasonable. It said even House Rent Allowance given to a government employee is not same and depends on place of posting and suggested that income criteria for EWS reservation should be linked to cost of living of a place instead of making it uniform across the country

Centre had however recently justified before the Supreme Court its decision to set the limit of Rs 8 lakh annual income fixed for determining the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category for reservation in NEET admissions for medical courses. In an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment before the apex court, it said the principle of fixing the amount is rational and in keeping with Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.

"The exercise conducted to determine the creamy layer for the purpose of OBC reservation would be equally applicable for determination of EWS category since the fundamental premise is that if a person/his family have a substantial economic standing, he/she may not require the benefits of reservation at the cost of others