P&H HC: a J&K-migrant quota's domicile waiver can't be cut down by a separate residence rule

The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a NEET-UG 2026 qualifier's plea to gain priority admission to MBBS and BDS courses under Punjab's one per cent reserved quota for migrants displaced from Jammu and Kashmir by militancy, holding that a domicile waiver granted to that special category cannot be cut down by reading it together with an unrelated residence condition for ordinary state-quota seats. The petitioner held both a certificate as a J&K migrant and a Punjab-resident certificate, and argued that a university prospectus clause waiving the domicile requirement for migrants should be read alongside the general residence condition for the state quota, so that migrants who also happened to reside in Punjab would get preference within the migrant quota.

Justices Suvir Sehgal and Rajesh Gaur held the two clauses serve entirely different purposes: the migrant quota's domicile waiver exists to rehabilitate people displaced from Jammu and Kashmir, and cannot be diluted by importing a residence requirement meant for a different reservation category. Relying on the Supreme Court's ruling in Dr. Tanvi Bahl v. Shrey Goel, the Court noted that India recognises only a single, all-India domicile, not separate state domiciles, and that residence-based reservation in admissions is permissible only at the undergraduate level, consistent with Article 14's requirement of reasonable classification.