Mayawati asks UP govt to move Supreme Court after HC stays medical college quota

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to move the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court order staying the implementation of nearly 91 per cent reservation for Scheduled Caste students in MBBS admissions at four government medical colleges in the state.

She said the state should seek immediate relief as the High Court order has affected admissions in these colleges. The court, while staying the reservation arrangement, allowed counselling for NEET-UG admissions to continue on the basis of the reservation percentages followed in other government medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh.

In a post on X in Hindi, Mayawati said, "If the Uttar Pradesh government had strongly advocated in the honourable court that the provision for additional reservation for the Scheduled Castes category in the medical colleges built in Saharanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Kannauj and Jalaun districts with funds from the 'Special Component Plan' meant for the welfare and benefit of the SC community is separate from the general 50 per cent reservation, and that this arrangement proves the full utility of the Special Component Plan, then perhaps the honourable court would have certainly given positive consideration to this and not imposed a stay on it."

She added that since the High Court has now put a stay on the arrangement and admissions have also been affected, it would be appropriate for the Uttar Pradesh government to immediately appeal in the Supreme Court for the required relief.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday stayed the implementation of nearly 91 per cent reservation for NEET-UG admissions to MBBS courses in the four colleges. A bench of Justices Alok Mathur and Amitabh Kumar Rai said counselling could continue with 21 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, 2 per cent for Scheduled Tribes and 27 per cent for Other Backward Classes. The court said admissions made through this counselling would remain subject to the outcome of the case.

The bench also issued a show-cause notice to the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education Department, asking why criminal contempt proceedings should not be started against him for allegedly failing to comply with an undertaking given to the court last year.

During the hearing, senior advocate A N Tripathi, appearing for the petitioners, said the state government had earlier assured the court that the reservation arrangement would be brought in line with the statutory provisions from the 2026-27 academic session. Despite that, he said, the reservation in the four colleges had pushed the overall quota to nearly 91 per cent.

The petition challenged the reservation arrangement for state-quota seats in the four government medical colleges in the current NEET-UG admission session. The petitioners argued that it went against the statutory reservation framework and also breached the assurance given to the court earlier. Taking note of these submissions, the bench stayed the 91 per cent reservation arrangement but did not stop counselling, allowing admissions to go ahead under the standard reservation percentages followed in other government medical colleges.