Punjab NEET UG Counslling 2024: HC Puts on Hold New NRI Quota MBBS, BDS Admissions: More!

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a stay on the Punjab government's revised eligibility criteria for the non-resident Indian (NRI) quota in MBBS and BDS courses in the state. The court will hear the matter again on September 2, 2024.

Following the interim order, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) announced that the Punjab NEET UG 2024 provisional results for seat and college allotment under the NRI category have been "kept on hold temporarily”. The university had initially published the merit list for the NRI quota on August 23 and released a revised version the following day, incorporating objections from candidates. The revised list was prepared "in order of preference of the degree of relation with the NRI,” as notified by the Punjab government in a corrigendum issued by the Director of Medical Education and Research on August 20, 2024.

Revised NRI Quota Changes for Punjab MBBS Admission 2024

According to the admission policy, all government and management quota seats in Punjab's medical and dental colleges will be filled based on NEET UG 2024 scores. The state government recently revised the NRI quota, earmarking 15% of seats in private institutions, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot, and specific numbers in other state-run medical and dental colleges.

The revised quota includes

• 15% seats in all private institutes
• 13 seats each in Government Medical Colleges in Patiala and Amritsar
• 15 seats in Dr. BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali
• 3 seats in Government Dental College, Amritsar
• 4 seats in Government Dental College, Patiala

As per a media report, a petition claims that the state government illegally altered the admission criteria by issuing a corrigendum, modifying existing provisions to permit candidates who are wards or in closest relation to NRIs.