PANAJI
The Supreme Court has directed the Goa government to allocate one medical seat under the Sports Quota to India’s international sailor, Pearl Milind Colvalcar, for admission to NEET (UG) 2025.
Colvalcar had challenged a Bombay High Court at Goa ruling dated August 25, which had quashed and set aside the State government’s decision to allot vacant medical seats, originally reserved under the Children of Freedom Fighters category, to meritorious sports persons under the Sports Quota.
A bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar noted that while they would not interfere with the High Court’s judgment on merits, special circumstances warranted relief for the petitioner.
The Court clarified that the direction to grant a seat should not be treated as a precedent, stating, “We direct that one seat under the Sports Quota, as per the advertisement dated August 1, 2025, be adjusted from a seat that would have remained unfilled. This is due to the peculiar facts of this case and shall not set a precedent.”
The petitioner sought admission to an MBBS program under the Sports Quota, citing the Goa Sports Policy, 2009, which provides for a 3 per cent reservation in graduate courses for outstanding sports persons representing the state at national or international championships.
The High Court had previously set aside the government’s decision, deeming it arbitrary and a violation of the established procedure for NEET (UG) 2025 admission cycle. According to the High Court, once the admission process had commenced with a specific seat matrix and reservation roster, altering it to introduce a new stream of beneficiaries from a different quota was impermissible.
The petitioner argued that the High Court committed grave error by failing to consider the State-sanctioned sports policy. According to the policy, the petitioner said that the government’s August 1, 2025 decision, was not an arbitrary mid-process change. Instead it was an attempt to implement a pre-existing, and hitherto unenforced, policy directives.
