The Supreme Court has cancelled the rule that allowed reservations for postgraduate medical courses based on where students are from in the state (domicile-based). This decision says it's against the Constitution, as it violates the principle of equality.

The ruling means that admission to PG medical courses will now be based only on merit, determined by NEET (National Eligibility/Entrance Test) scores, not state quotas.

The judges, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, and Justice SVN Bhatti, stated that as citizens, people have the right to live anywhere in India and to seek admission to educational institutions across the country.

The Supreme Court clarified that there is no such thing as a "state domicile", everyone is a domicile of India. The court emphasized that all citizens have the right to live anywhere in India and pursue their profession or trade anywhere across the country.

The court also stated that the Constitution allows citizens to seek admission to educational institutions across India. While it recognized that reservations can be considered for undergraduate courses for residents of a particular state, it ruled that reservations for postgraduate medical courses based on residency violate the principle of equality under Article 14.This is because, at higher levels, specialized doctors are needed, and using state residency as a basis for reservations would be unfair.

However, in an important clarification, the Supreme Court stated that its judgment would not impact domicile-based reservations already granted. Students who have completed their degrees based on such reservations will not be affected by the ruling.

This case dates back to 2019 when a two-judge bench initially heard appeals against a ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had also declared domicile-based reservations for PG medical courses unconstitutional. Recognizing the significance of the matter, the two-judge bench referred the case to a three-judge bench for a final decision.