On 30th January 2025, India’s Supreme Court termed domicile-based reservations in post-graduate (PG) medical courses as unconstitutional. The three-member bench consisted of Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Sudhanshu Dhulia, and SVN Bhatti, which ended that such reservations “infringe upon the fundamental rights of the petitioner and respondent students all over India more particularly their right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution”. It follows an appeal filed against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had held certain provisions of the admission process in the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, as invalid.

The Court while making the above order specifically mentioned the issue related to reservations made based on the domicile or place of residence of a student for getting admission into PG medical courses stating that it was violative of the principle of equality. The bench ruled that every citizen of India, regardless of their state of residence, has equal rights and opportunities, including the right to pursue higher education and practice medicine anywhere in the country. It will be justified for undergraduate MBBS courses to the extent domicile-based reservations are allowed, but to the extent this is done for highly competitive PG medical courses with a national requirement for such highly specialized medical practitioners, it remains unjustifiable. The judgment claimed that merit ought to be the primary factor upon which admissions in PG medical courses are determined. The Court clarified that the only exceptions to this rule would be in cases of limited institution-based reservations, which are specific to certain institutions rather than states. The bench underlined that seats meant for specific states should be filled based purely on merit, which is to be determined through the All India Medical Entrance Examination, rather than residency or domicile status.

This judgment had an immediate implication for the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, where there were 64 PG seats in the state quota. Half of them were reserved for residents of Chandigarh or for students who had completed their MBBS from the same institution. The Supreme Court maintained the decision by the Punjab and Haryana High Court that 32 seats in the Union Territory (UT) Chandigarh pool were illegally allocated based on residency. It declared these reservations unconstitutional and continued to emphasize the fact that the allocation should only be based on merit.

One of the major impacts of the ruling is that it will not affect students who are already studying or have passed out under the previous admission system. The judgment had clearly clarified that students already studying or who have passed out their PG medical courses at Government Medical College, Chandigarh, will not be affected by the new ruling. This provision would ensure that people who had entered under the old system, wherein domicile-based reservations were permitted, would not suffer from the effect of the decision.

The implications of the decision of the Supreme Court are of far-reaching nature for medical education in India. This reflects on the requirement for a merit-based system in the admissions, which is essential when it comes to competitive fields, such as PG medical courses. The country will need skilled doctors to match its growing health requirements. Thus, the judgment passed by the Court is one major step towards establishing a fairer and merit-based educational landscape that allows more individuals to achieve the opportunity solely on the grounds of their capability, rather than based on one’s state of origin.

There would be a significant change in the admission process for PG medical courses in India after this judgment. The judgment has considerable implications, as it follows the larger trend of search for more fairness in educational admissions; students from any region would be treated similarly and have an equal opportunity to seek specialized medical education.

While some states may have used domicile-based reservations in the past as a way to provide opportunities to local students, the Supreme Court has now drawn a clear line, declaring that such reservations cannot be extended to PG medical courses. This ensures that talented individuals from all parts of India, regardless of their state, will have the same opportunities to pursue advanced medical education.

The ruling is also significant in the context of the growing importance of a national approach to healthcare. The need for qualified medical professionals, especially in specialized fields, is growing across the country, and a merit-based system is viewed as essential to ensure that the most qualified candidates are selected to fill these crucial roles. The Supreme Court has reinforced that the national interest in having the best-qualified doctors should outweigh state-based considerations by abolishing domicile-based reservations in PG medical courses.

Ultimately, the decision of the Supreme Court aims at making a fairer, more transparent, and merit-based system for the admissions of medical studies in India. It is going to open doors for other similar judgments in the educational sectors as well and continue to form the Indian higher education landscape where merit should be the guiding principle.