Overview
- Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the immediate admission pleas of two Haryana candidates who claimed conversion to Buddhism.
- The court directed the Haryana chief secretary to submit, within two weeks, the guidelines and rationale behind issuing minority certificates.
- The bench asked whether upper-caste general-category candidates, who also declared non-EWS status in NEET-PG 2025, can later claim Buddhist minority status.
- The petitioners, identified as Nikhil Kumar Punia and Ekta from Hisar, had produced SDO-issued certificates to seek seats at Subharti Medical College in Meerut.
- Subharti Medical College is a Buddhist minority institution recognized by the NCMEI since 2018, and the court kept broader procedural issues pending for further consideration.