Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal against a high court ruling quashing its decision to expand the definition of the “NRI quota” for admissions in medical and dental courses. The apex court criticised the move, stating, “This fraud must come to an end.”
Earlier on September 10, the Punjab and Haryana high court had struck down the AAP government’s order, which extended the NRI quota to include distant relatives like “uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins” under the 15 percent quota for this group.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said: “This is nothing but a money spinning machine”.
“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,” the bench added.
Calling 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 SC said distant relatives of a ‘mama, tai, taya’, who live abroad will get admissions ahead of meritorious candidates and this cannot be allowed.
