Assam NEET category list and reservations

The Assam NEET category list, set out in the state’s gazetted MBBS/BDS admission rules, covers OBC and MOBC, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes split into plains and hills, and an Economically Weaker Sections quota. On top of these vertical categories Assam runs several horizontal quotas, including one for persons with benchmark disabilities and one for residents of the state’s char (river-island) areas. The reservation applies to the 85% state quota run by the Directorate of Medical Education; the 15% All India Quota uses the central category system instead.

Vertical reservation in the Assam state quota

The figures below are stated in the rules as percentages of the state quota seats (the balance left after the All India Quota, Central Pool and North Eastern states’ seats are taken out). They come from Schedule-III of the admission rules as amended in 2019 and 2020.

Category	Reservation (of state quota seats)	Non-creamy-layer requirement
OBC / MOBC (Non-Creamy-Layer only)	Approximately 25.75%	Yes
Scheduled Castes (SC)	7%	No
Scheduled Tribes, Plain — ST(P)	10%	No
Scheduled Tribes, Hills — ST(H)	5%	No
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	10% of total state quota seats	N/A (income/asset-based)

The OBC/MOBC share is a single Non-Creamy-Layer quota, not split per community in the percentage. Within it the rules name specific communities, each certified as OBC-NCL by the Deputy Commissioner: Tea Garden and Ex-Tea Garden tribes (TGL/Ex-TGL), Moran, Motak, Tai Ahom, Chutiya and Koch Rajbongshi. These are seats carved from the OBC/MOBC block rather than categories above it.

Scheduled Tribes: the plains and hills split

Assam is one of the few states that divides its ST reservation by geography. Scheduled Tribes (Plain) hold 10% of state quota seats and Scheduled Tribes (Hills) hold 5%. They are separate quotas with separate caste lists; your ST certificate from the Deputy Commissioner has to match the right one. Both are claimed on the same gazette annexure (Annexure-V) but against the correct ST(P) or ST(H) status.

How the reserved categories certify

Every category claim in the state quota rests on a certificate from the Deputy Commissioner of the district, submitted with the matching gazette annexure in the application form:

• OBC/MOBC: original certificate naming the community and stating Non-Creamy-Layer status, on Annexure-III. Candidates in the creamy layer, or whose community is not on the Assam OBC/MOBC list, are advised to apply as General.
• SC: original caste certificate, on Annexure-IV.
• ST(Plain) and ST(Hills): original caste certificate, on Annexure-V, against the correct plains or hills status.
• TGL/Ex-TGL: OBC certificate naming the specific tea-garden community with NCL status, on Annexure-VI.
• EWS: not a generic EWS certificate. The claim is on Assam’s own EWS certificate from the concerned Circle Office or Circle Officer, issued per the Personnel Department’s Office Memorandum No. ABP 07/2019/4 dated 10 April 2019.

For All India Quota seats the same person needs a central-list OBC-NCL certificate in the central format; an Assam OBC/MOBC certificate is accepted only for the state quota.

Horizontal quotas applied across categories

These quotas cut across the vertical categories rather than sitting above them. A candidate who qualifies under one of them is still counted within their own SC, ST, OBC/MOBC or General category.

Persons with benchmark disabilities (Divyang). The most recent amendment sets this at 10% of total state quota seats. It is explicitly not a seat over and above the other categories: a disabled candidate is adjusted against the category to which they belong. Disability is assessed at counselling by a Medical Board the DME constitutes from at least three Heads of Orthopaedics departments (or representatives not below Professor) of Assam medical colleges, applying the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and the MCI notification dated 4 February 2019. A separate certificate from an MCC-designated centre is needed for the AIQ disability claim.

Char areas (CA). For sons and daughters of socially, economically and educationally backward classes ordinarily residing in areas covered by the Assam State Char Areas Development Authority. The certificate is on Annexure-VII and the quota is reserved in seats, not stated as a percentage in the current schedule.

Ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel (ExS/SDP). For children of ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel hailing from Assam. Selection follows the Ministry of Defence norms (No. 6(1)/2017/D (Res-II) dated 21 May 2018, as amended), on Annexure-VIII.

Freedom fighters (FF). For sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandsons and granddaughters of the state’s freedom fighters. It needs both a freedom-fighter certificate from the Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister of Assam (or the Home Department, signed by an officer not below Joint Secretary or Deputy Secretary) and a certificate from the concerned Deputy Commissioner establishing the direct relationship. Either one alone is not enough.

Extremist-violence and Assam-movement quotas. The rules also reserve seats for family members of persons killed in extremist violence in Assam (one-time benefit per family, on Annexure-IX with a court affidavit) and for family members of martyrs of the Assam movement (on Annexure-X).

Sports. One MBBS seat. The candidate must have qualified in NEET and represented the state in national, Asian or Olympic games, with merit ranked by event tier from Olympic and World level down through Commonwealth and Asian, SAF and national, to state and school games. The minimum is a medal at least at state level in the three years before the entrance exam; ties break on entrance-test marks, then PCB marks of the qualifying examination.

How reserved-to-general conversion works

The rules set out one mechanism worth knowing. A reserved-category candidate who earns a seat on General/Unreserved merit, and chooses to take a seat kept reserved for their category, is counted as a General candidate for the reservation arithmetic. To keep the reserved total intact, one unreserved seat in another college of their next preference is then converted to that reserved category. This protects the headcount of reserved seats rather than letting it shrink when reserved candidates clear on open merit.

How Assam categories map to the All India Quota

Assam state quota	All India Quota equivalent
General / Unreserved	UR
OBC / MOBC (Assam list)	OBC-NCL (central list, central format)
SC	SC
ST(Plain) / ST(Hills)	ST (no plains/hills split at central level)
EWS (Assam Circle-Officer certificate)	EWS
Char areas / TGL / Tai Ahom / Moran / Motak etc.	No direct equivalent (Assam-specific)

If you hold both an Assam category certificate and a central OBC-NCL certificate, each works in its own pool. The Assam-specific community and char-area quotas have no central equivalent, so they apply only in the DME state counselling. The detailed certificate-by-certificate checklist and the round-by-round exit rules for Assam are set out in their own guides.

One caution on the figures. The Divyang share has changed across amendments (3% in 2018, 5% in 2019, then 10% under the 2020 amendment), and the gazette’s later annexures sit in a scanned, hard-to-read tail. Treat the percentages above as the governing rules to date and confirm the exact seat-wise allocation against the current DME Assam notice for the year you apply.