The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a tabulated statement of issues in a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the ₹8 lakh annual income criterion prescribed for identifying the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category, while directing the petitioners to also ascertain whether similar petitions raising the same challenge are pending before the Court.

A Bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe was hearing the matter when it questioned whether the petitions remained maintainable in view of the Constitution Bench judgment in Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India, (2019) 4 SCC 76 which upheld the validity of the EWS reservation.

Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Tanvi Dubey submitted that the present challenge was confined not to the constitutional validity of the EWS reservation itself, but specifically to the ₹8 lakh income threshold and the criteria evolved by the Pandey Committee for identifying the EWS category. She pointed out that the Supreme Court had earlier framed a specific issue for consideration regarding the validity of the Pandey Committee criteria and had directed that the challenge be heard separately.

She further submitted that the Pandey Committee Report, submitted by the Union Government in 2021, had itself recommended the removal of the five-acre agricultural land criterion used for determining EWS eligibility. However, despite those recommendations, the suggested reforms had not been implemented for subsequent NEET-PG admissions since 2021, she argued.

Taking note of the submissions, the Bench directed the petitioners to prepare a tabulated statement identifying the precise issues requiring adjudication and to verify whether similar petitions challenging the Pandey Committee criteria are pending before the Supreme Court.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 11.