91% Seats Reserved, 7 Left Open: Allahabad High Court Stays UP's Medical College Quota Order, Flags Contempt

Case at a glance: The Allahabad High Court has stayed a Uttar Pradesh government order that allocated roughly 91% of MBBS seats at four state medical colleges to SC, ST and OBC candidates, leaving only about 7 of 85 seats per college for the general category — well beyond the statutory 21%/2%/27% caps. The Court found the order breached both the state's own reservation law and an earlier undertaking given to the Court, and has directed the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, to personally explain the breach, with contempt proceedings to be considered thereafter.

On 1 September 2026, the Uttar Pradesh government issued a government order for four state medical colleges — Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Saharanpur — allocating, out of 85 MBBS seats per college, 62 seats to Scheduled Caste candidates, 5 to Scheduled Tribe candidates, and 11 to Other Backward Classes candidates, leaving only around 7 seats, roughly 8%, for unreserved or general-category candidates.

Two NEET-UG 2026 candidates who had scored high ranks in the General and EWS categories challenged this order, arguing it breached the UP Admission to Educational Institutions (Reservation for SC, ST and OBC) Act, 2006, which prescribes 21% SC, 2% ST and 27% OBC reservation, and that it also departed from the state's own prior undertaking to the Court — given in earlier, related litigation over similar seat allocations at the same colleges — to follow the statutory percentages from the 2026-27 academic session onward.

The Key Question Before the Court

Where a state government order allocates reservation percentages far exceeding its own statutory caps, and contradicts an undertaking the state itself had earlier given to the High Court, what should the Court do to protect both the statutory scheme and its own authority?

Why the Court Stayed the Order and Flagged Contempt

The Division Bench held that the September 2026 order was “clearly in the teeth of the directions issued” by the Court's earlier orders in related litigation, and that the state had “reneged on the undertaking” it had given to the Court to follow the statutory reservation percentages for this very admission cycle.

The Court stayed the specific clause of the order fixing the inflated SC/ST/OBC allocation, and directed that admissions to the four colleges proceed strictly according to the statutory percentages under the 2006 Act — 21% SC, 2% ST and 27% OBC — rather than the figures in the challenged order.

What the Court Has Directed

• The impugned clause of the government order, fixing seat allocation beyond the statutory caps, has been stayed.
• Admissions to the four colleges must proceed strictly per the 2006 Act's statutory percentages, not the challenged order's figures.
• The Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, has been directed to file a personal affidavit explaining how the order came to be issued in apparent violation of the Court's earlier directions.
• The Court has stated that whether to initiate contempt proceedings will be considered after that affidavit is filed, with the matter next listed around 12 October 2026.

Why This Matters

• It is a direct, live intervention in NEET-UG 2026 MBBS counselling and admissions at four UP medical colleges, affecting the seat allocation candidates are counting on right now.
• It demonstrates judicial enforcement of statutory reservation caps against executive orders that exceed them, reinforcing that government orders cannot simply override a state's own reservation legislation.
• It shows the Court using its contempt jurisdiction as a real check on a state government that had given an undertaking and then issued a contradictory order — a significant separation-of-powers moment in ongoing litigation.
• This is a recurring dispute: a similar reservation controversy over these same four colleges also arose in the previous admission cycle, suggesting a pattern worth tracking for future NEET admission seasons.

What This Means in Practice

For NEET-UG 2026 Candidates and Their Counsel

• Candidates in the general and EWS categories affected by the original order should track the stay and the revised, statutory-percentage-based seat allocation closely as counselling proceeds.
• Where similar reservation orders affecting admissions elsewhere deviate from statutory caps, this ruling offers a template for challenging them on both statutory and contempt-of-undertaking grounds.

For State Education Departments

• Any government order on reservation in educational admissions must stay within the state's own statutory caps, and any undertaking given to a court in related litigation must be honoured in subsequent orders covering the same subject matter.

For Education and Constitutional Law Practitioners Generally

• Track the outcome of the Additional Chief Secretary's affidavit and whether contempt proceedings are initiated — this could set a significant precedent on executive accountability for undertakings given to courts.

Key Takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions

No. It requires that reservation follow the statutory percentages under the UP Admission to Educational Institutions (Reservation for SC, ST and OBC) Act, 2006 — 21% SC, 2% ST and 27% OBC — rather than the much higher percentages in the challenged government order.

Because the September 2026 government order appeared to directly contradict an undertaking the state had earlier given to the Court in related litigation over the same four colleges, to follow the statutory reservation percentages from this admission cycle onward.

The Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, has been directed to file a personal affidavit explaining the order, after which the Court will consider whether to initiate contempt proceedings. The matter is next listed around 12 October 2026.

Conclusion