Supreme Court Affirms Rs 8 Lakh Income Limit for EWS Reservation

The Supreme Court of India has deemed the annual income threshold of Rs 8 lakh for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category as reasonable, as stated during a recent hearing. This ruling emerged from a bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe, who were addressing petitions filed in 2021 that challenged a notification from the National Testing Agency. This notification provided a 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes and a 10 percent reservation for EWS candidates in medical courses. The court's comments were made on a Tuesday, reflecting its ongoing deliberations on the matter.

The case had been dormant in the Supreme Court for five years prior to this hearing. In a previous ruling in 2022, the court upheld the 103rd Constitutional Amendment, which established the 10 percent reservation for EWS candidates. During the recent proceedings, Justice Narasimha noted that the case might be considered infructuous, as it pertained to the NEET admissions for the 2021 academic session. However, Advocate Tanvi Dubey, representing the petitioners, contended that the legal questions surrounding the Rs 8 lakh income limit remain pertinent. Dubey pointed out the recommendations made by the Pandey Commission, which was tasked with reviewing the EWS criteria. The Commission suggested retaining the Rs 8 lakh income limit but recommended that families owning more than five acres of agricultural land should be excluded from this category, regardless of their income.