Allahabad High Court: Stays UP NEET-UG 2026 Reservation Order

• The Allahabad High Court has stayed a Uttar Pradesh Government Order that reserved 78 out of 85 MBBS seats per college for SC, ST, and OBC categories in four medical colleges for NEET-UG 2026 admissions.
• The court found the September 1, 2026 order contrary to its previous directives and a state undertaking to adhere to statutory reservation limits from the 2026-27 academic session.
• Petitioners, high-ranking NEET-UG 2026 candidates, challenged the order, arguing it violated the Uttar Pradesh Admission to Educational Institutions Act, 2006, which sets specific reservation percentages within a 50% ceiling.
• A prior 2025 ruling had already deemed similar excessive reservations illegal, leading to the State's promise to comply with the 2006 Act for the upcoming academic year.
• The High Court has ordered the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, to file a personal affidavit explaining the order's issuance and will consider contempt proceedings.

The court unequivocally stated that the State had "reneged on the undertaking" given before it and had issued an order "totally contrary to the provisions of the Act of 2006."

The Allahabad High Court has issued a stay on a Uttar Pradesh Government Order that significantly increased reservation quotas for NEET-UG 2026 MBBS admissions. This directive, which allocated 78 out of 85 MBBS seats per college to reserved categories across four government medical institutions, has been halted by a division bench comprising Justices Alok Mathur and Amitabh Kumar Rai.

The court's decision specifically targets the enhanced reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories. The bench found that the state government's order directly contradicted its own previous rulings and a formal undertaking provided by the State to adhere to statutory reservation limits starting from the 2026-27 academic session. This judicial intervention underscores a critical legal challenge to the state's medical admission policies.

The contested government order, dated September 1, 2026, pertained to MBBS admissions in four specific government medical colleges located in Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun, and Saharanpur. Under this arrangement, each of these colleges, possessing 85 MBBS seats, would have reserved 62 seats for Scheduled Castes, five for Scheduled Tribes, and 11 for Other Backward Classes. This left a mere seven seats available for unreserved candidates in each institution.

The challenge to this policy was brought forth by two candidates who participated in the NEET-UG 2026 examination, conducted by the National Testing Agency on June 21, 2026. These petitioners, who had achieved high ranks in the General and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) categories, sought admission through the Uttar Pradesh state counselling process. They argued that the September 1, 2026 order violated the reservation percentages stipulated by the Uttar Pradesh Admission to Educational Institutions (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 2006, and disregarded earlier directives from the High Court.

This is not the first instance of the High Court addressing reservation issues in these specific medical colleges. During the NEET-UG 2025 admission cycle, a similar reservation scheme was challenged in the case of `Sabra Ahmad v. State of U.P.`. On August 25, 2025, a single-judge bench observed that the reservation for Scheduled Castes had exceeded 79%, deeming such government orders contrary to Section 4 of the 2006 Act. The court emphasized that reservations surpassing the generally accepted 50% ceiling could not be justified without proper legal authority, subsequently quashing the relevant government orders and instructing the State to re-conduct the seat allocation process in compliance with the 2006 Act.

While the State appealed this decision, a division bench protected the admissions already made for the 2025 academic year to prevent disruption. Crucially, in its order dated September 4, 2025, the division bench formally recorded an undertaking from the State to implement the statutory reservation regime, which mandates 21% for SCs, 2% for STs, and 27% for OBCs within a 50% overall ceiling for professional colleges, starting from the 2026-27 academic session.

The current bench expressed strong disapproval, noting that despite the explicit earlier orders and the State's own solemn undertaking, the Uttar Pradesh government proceeded to issue the September 1, 2026 order, perpetuating the enhanced reservation in the four medical colleges. The court unequivocally stated that the State had "reneged on the undertaking" given before it and had issued an order "totally contrary to the provisions of the Act of 2006."

Furthermore, the High Court held that the impugned order was "clearly in the teeth" of the directions previously issued by both the single judge and the division bench. In response, the court has directed the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, Uttar Pradesh, to submit a personal affidavit explaining the issuance of the September 1, 2026 order. The bench indicated that it would consider initiating contempt proceedings against the official after reviewing the affidavit, signaling the seriousness with which it views the State's non-compliance.

Source: Original reporting via Live Law