Chhattisgarh HC caps institutional quota at 50% in PG medical admissions

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh high court in a significant decision ruled on Monday that 50% of seats in postgraduate medical courses in govt and private medical colleges in the state will be reserved under institutional preference, while the remaining 50% will be filled through open, merit-based admissions.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice BD Guru clarified that the institutional quota is reserved for candidates who completed their MBBS from National Medical Commission (NMC) recognised colleges within Chhattisgarh or for those currently in service. Admissions to these seats will be granted solely on the basis of merit among eligible institutional candidates.The remaining 50% seats will fall under the open category and will be filled based on a state-level merit list accessible to all eligible candidates, with no institutional reservation applying to this segment.The state govt filed an application seeking clarification of directions issued by the division bench in an earlier order dated November 20-2025. Appearing for the state, Additional Advocate General Shashank Thakur requested the court to modify the instructions to ensure that candidates who obtained their degrees from Chhattisgarh-based colleges or Ayush University receive preference under the state quota.Senior counsel Rajeev Srivastava and counsel Sandeep Dubey, representing the petitioner Dr Samridhi Dubey, argued that no further modification was necessary. They stated that the court had already aligned its decision with the Tanvi Behl case ruled upon by the Supreme Court.The matter reached the HC after Dr Samridhi Dubey challenged the Chhattisgarh Medical Postgraduate Admission Rules, 2021. Dr Dubey, a permanent resident of Chhattisgarh, completed her MBBS from a medical college in Salem, Tamil Nadu, after being allotted the seat through the All India Quota. Despite qualifying for NEET PG 2025 with an All India Rank of 75,068, she found herself at a disadvantage due to the 2021 rules.Under the old rules, preference was first given to those who graduated from Chhattisgarh colleges, and only if seats remained vacant were they offered to residents who studied outside the state. Dr Dubey's petition contended that this created unfair discrimination among students based on where they obtained their degree.The division bench noted that the Supreme Court, in the Tanvi Behl case, held that domicile-based reservation in postgraduate medical courses is impermissible, though a reasonable degree of institutional preference is allowed.The court struck down the discriminatory provisions and directed the state to act according to the ratio laid down by the apex court. If seats under the institutional quota remain vacant, they must be converted to the open category during the mop-up round of counselling.On November 20-2025, the High Court quashed Rule 11(a) and 11(b) of the 2025 Rules, terming them violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The State subsequently challenged this in the Supreme Court. On December 18-2025, the apex court permitted the State to move the HC for clarification regarding the percentage of seats that can be reserved for institutional quota.