Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench has on September 16, stayed the implementation of the reservation arrangement described before it as reaching nearly 91% for NEET-UG admissions in four Uttar Pradesh government medical colleges- Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Saharanpur. The court, however, has allowed the counselling process to continue under the reservation percentages applicable to other government medical colleges in the state, while making admissions subject to the final outcome of the proceedings.

The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai. The court permitted counselling with 21% reservation for Scheduled Castes, 2% for Scheduled Tribes and 27% for Other Backward Classes. It did not stop the counselling process altogether.

The latest proceedings are part of the continuing legal dispute over the category-wise seat allocation in the four colleges. The issue had earlier been considered by the Lucknow Bench in Sabra Ahmad v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others. In its August 25, 2025 judgment, the High Court recorded the seat matrix for the four colleges as 85 State Quota seats per college, comprising 62 SC, 5 ST, 11 OBC and 7 unreserved seats. Across the four colleges, the State Quota therefore comprised 340 seats, including 248 SC, 20 ST, 44 OBC and 28 unreserved seats.

The 2025 judgment also records the State government's explanation for the special arrangement. According to the government's submissions before the court, the medical colleges at Jalaun and Ambedkar Nagar were established pursuant to government orders dated November 10, 2006 and January 29, 2008, while Kannauj and Saharanpur were established through orders dated January 20, 2010 and February 21, 2011.

The State told the court that grants for setting up the colleges had been received under the Special Component Plan and that the relevant government orders prescribed 70% seats for SC/ST, 15% for OBC and 15% for the general category.

The latest proceedings, however, concern the implementation of the reservation arrangement for the current NEET-UG admission cycle. According to the court proceedings on September 16, the petitioners argued that the reservation arrangement had reached nearly 91% and was contrary to the statutory framework and the undertaking given by the State in the earlier litigation. The Bench consequently stayed the disputed arrangement while permitting counselling to proceed according to the statutory reservation percentages applicable to other government medical colleges.

The court also issued a show-cause notice to the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, asking why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated in connection with an alleged failure to comply with an undertaking given during the earlier proceedings.

Students dispute the ‘91% reservation’ narrative

Speaking to The Mooknayak, Arun Sonkar, a final-year MBBS student at Government Medical College, Kannauj, said the students are disappointed with the court's interim order and want the public discussion around the “91% reservation” figure to be clarified.

Students alleged that Youth For Equality (YFE) and the Arakshan Hatao Andolan (AHA) were spreading a misleading “91% reservation” narrative about the four medical colleges. Arun Sonkar questioned how reservation could reach 91% when the special seat structure provides for 70% allocation to SC/ST communities, and said the figure was being used to create confusion and discredit the students’ demand for protection of the existing arrangement.

Sonkar said the 91% figure does not accurately represent the special SC/ST arrangement that students have been defending. According to him, under the arrangement associated with these four colleges, the seats earmarked for SC/ST students do not go beyond 70%, and the students intend to place this distinction before the public and reservation-rights groups.

“The 91 per cent narrative is false. The seats in these four colleges will not extend beyond 70 per cent,” Sonkar told The Mooknayak.

He said what the students consider to be a false narrative has been circulated around the dispute and needs to be corrected so that the issue is understood in its proper context.

Sonkar said students plan to raise this point through wider discussions with organisations and individuals involved in the reservation debate. According to him, a delegation is expected to meet Nagina MP Chandra Shekhar Azad to discuss the issue and request that it be taken up at the proposed September 24 protest in Delhi.

What the court record shows

The court record makes an important distinction between the earlier special arrangement and the current statutory framework.

In the August 2025 Sabra Ahmad judgment, the High Court recorded the four-college State Quota matrix as 62 SC, 5 ST, 11 OBC and 7 unreserved seats out of 85.

The same judgment records the State's explanation that the colleges had been established under a Special Component Plan and that the relevant government orders prescribed a broader special distribution of 70% for SC/ST, 15% for OBC and 15% for the general category.

The latest interim proceedings are different: the court has allowed counselling to proceed using 21% SC, 2% ST and 27% OBC, the percentages applicable to other government medical colleges, while the dispute continues. Thus, the present order does not finally decide whether the original special arrangement was legally sustainable. It determines the interim position for the ongoing admission process while the proceedings remain pending.

For the students, the dispute goes beyond a simple comparison of reservation percentages. They have consistently argued that Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Saharanpur were established under a special plan and that their original admission structure must be considered in that context.

The students' present position, as conveyed by Sonkar, is that describing the arrangement simply as “91% reservation” obscures this distinction. They now want their version of the seat structure and the history of the four institutions to be placed before reservation-rights groups and political representatives.

The immediate effect of the latest High Court order is that NEET-UG counselling has not been halted. It can proceed under the 21% SC, 2% ST and 27% OBC reservation framework applicable to other government medical colleges, with admissions remaining subject to the outcome of the proceedings. The court has also not finally determined the students' broader contention regarding the Special Component Plan or whether the earlier 70% SC/ST arrangement should ultimately be restored. Those questions remain part of the continuing litigation.

Mayawati's Reaction to HC Stay

BSP Chief and former CM Mayawati took to x to comment on the development. "The very essence of the much-discussed demand for social justice implies that had the UP government strongly argued before the Hon'ble Court that the provision for additional reservation for the SC category—in medical colleges built in Saharanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Kannauj, and Jalaun districts using 'Special Component Plan' funds—stands distinct from the general 50% reservation quota, and that this arrangement demonstrates the full utility of the Special Component Plan, the Hon'ble Court would likely have considered the matter positively and refrained from imposing a stay" she stated in a post.

She further wrote, "However, now that the Hon'ble High Court has imposed a ban, thereby affecting medical admissions, it would be appropriate for the UP government to immediately appeal to the Hon'ble Supreme Court to seek the necessary relief."