Uttar Pradesh NEET category list and reservations

Uttar Pradesh allocates 85% of government medical college seats through its state quota, with admissions managed by the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), Lucknow. The remaining 15% goes to the All India Quota managed centrally by MCC. For state quota seats, candidates must hold a valid domicile certificate for Uttar Pradesh, and their NEET scorecard is the sole basis for merit determination. The counselling process runs through the official portal at upneet.gov.in, where candidates register, verify documents, and participate in seat allotment rounds.

Reservation in UP follows a two-layer structure: vertical reservations divide seats among social categories, while horizontal reservations cut across those vertical slices to ensure representation for specific groups like persons with disabilities and women.

Vertical reservation breakdown

Vertical reservations in Uttar Pradesh split the total state quota seats into five mutually exclusive categories. A candidate can claim only one vertical category; for instance, an OBC candidate cannot simultaneously claim EWS reservation.

Category	Quota (%)
Unreserved (General)	40%
Other Backward Classes (OBC)	27%
Scheduled Castes (SC)	21%
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	10%
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	2%

The ST quota in Uttar Pradesh is notably smaller than in states with larger tribal populations. This reflects the state’s demographic composition. Candidates belonging to reserved categories who score high enough to qualify in the unreserved list may be allotted seats in the General category, freeing reserved seats for other candidates within their group.

Horizontal reservation

Horizontal reservations apply within each vertical category rather than carving out separate seats from the overall pool. In Uttar Pradesh, two primary horizontal quotas operate across all vertical categories:

• Persons with Disabilities (PwD/PwBD): 5% of seats within each vertical category are reserved for candidates with benchmark disabilities of 40% or more.
• Women: 20% of seats within each vertical category are reserved for female candidates.

Additional horizontal reservations exist for dependents of ex-servicemen, NCC cadets, and dependents of freedom fighters. These quotas function the same way; a woman from the SC category, for example, would be considered under both the SC vertical quota and the women’s horizontal quota within that SC slice.

Because horizontal quotas operate within vertical categories, they do not reduce the total number of seats available to any social group. A PwD candidate from the OBC category competes within the OBC pool, not against General category PwD candidates.

Exception: four SCP-funded colleges

Four government medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh were established under the Scheduled Caste Special Component Plan (SCP): GMC Ambedkar Nagar, GMC Kannauj, GMC Jalaun (Orai), and GMC Saharanpur. Because these colleges were built with SCP funds earmarked for SC welfare, the state government applied 70% SC reservation at these four institutions through a series of government orders issued between 2010 and 2015. This pushed the combined reserved seats at these colleges to approximately 79% when the 15% AIQ central pool was factored in.

In August 2025, the Allahabad High Court (Justice Pankaj Bhatia) struck down the six government orders, ruling that the reservation exceeded the 50% ceiling established by the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992). The court directed that these four colleges must follow the standard reservation under the UP Reservation Act 2006 (SC 21%, ST 2%, OBC 27%, EWS 10%). A division bench subsequently stayed fresh counselling for the 2025-26 academic year while ordering that SC students admitted in excess of the standard quota be adjusted to vacant reserved seats at other government medical colleges.

As of June 2026, the matter is before the Supreme Court of India (SLP Diary No. 51735-2025, bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran), which has agreed to examine whether colleges established under the SCP are bound by the 50% reservation ceiling. Until the Supreme Court rules, the seat matrix at these four colleges for 2026 counselling remains uncertain. Candidates should check DMET notifications on upneet.gov.in for the confirmed reservation structure at these colleges before filling choices. The standard reservation percentages listed above (SC 21%, ST 2%, OBC 27%, EWS 10%) continue to apply at all other UP medical colleges without any dispute.

EWS category

The Economically Weaker Sections reservation of 10% applies exclusively to General category candidates. Candidates who belong to SC, ST, or OBC cannot claim EWS reservation regardless of their family income. This distinction trips up many applicants during document verification.

To qualify for EWS, a candidate’s family must meet the income and asset criteria defined by the state government. The EWS certificate must be issued on or after 1 April of the counselling year. Certificates from previous years are not valid, even if the family’s economic situation remains unchanged. DMET verifies certificate dates during document scrutiny, and an expired or pre-dated certificate will result in the candidate losing their EWS claim for that admission cycle.

Candidates should obtain their EWS certificate from the relevant tehsildar or district magistrate’s office well before counselling begins, keeping the April cutoff in mind.

OBC Non-Creamy Layer

OBC reservation of 27% in Uttar Pradesh requires candidates to produce a Non-Creamy Layer (NCL) certificate. The creamy layer concept excludes families whose income or social position has advanced beyond a threshold set by the government; these families are considered economically self-sufficient and therefore ineligible for OBC quota benefits.

Like the EWS certificate, the OBC-NCL certificate must be issued on or after 1 April of the counselling year. This annual renewal requirement exists because a family’s income status can change year to year. A certificate dated March of the same year, even if just weeks old at the time of counselling, will be rejected.

The certificate must be issued by a competent authority (typically the sub-divisional magistrate or equivalent). Candidates should verify that their caste is listed in the Uttar Pradesh state OBC list, as central and state OBC lists can differ. A caste recognized at the central level may not appear on the UP state list, which would disqualify the candidate from state quota OBC reservation.

How merit lists are prepared

DMET prepares separate category-wise merit lists based on NEET scores. There is no separate state entrance exam; the NEET scorecard alone determines rank within each list. Candidates appear on multiple lists depending on their eligibility. A PwD candidate from the SC category, for instance, would appear on the overall SC merit list, the SC-PwD merit list, and potentially the general merit list if their score qualifies.

The ranking within each category list follows NEET score in descending order. When two candidates have identical NEET scores, tie-breaking criteria specified in the NEET counselling guidelines (such as higher marks in Biology, then Chemistry, then fewer incorrect answers, then age) apply.

Seat allotment proceeds category by category. General merit seats fill first, then OBC, SC, ST, and EWS seats in sequence, with horizontal quotas applied at each stage. Reserved category candidates who qualify on general merit are adjusted upward, vacating reserved seats for others.

Certificate requirements and validity

Candidates participating in UP NEET state counselling must produce the following documents during verification:

• NEET scorecard and admit card
• Uttar Pradesh domicile certificate (mandatory for state quota eligibility)
• Category certificate (SC/ST/OBC as applicable), issued by the competent district authority
• OBC Non-Creamy Layer certificate, dated on or after 1 April of the counselling year
• EWS certificate (for General-EWS candidates), dated on or after 1 April of the counselling year
• PwD certificate from a government medical board (for disability quota claims)
• Class 10 and 12 marksheets and passing certificates
• Photograph and government-issued ID

All certificates must be originals at the time of physical verification, with self-attested photocopies submitted for records. DMET’s verification team at the counselling centre cross-checks certificate details against the candidate’s registration data. Any mismatch in name, date of birth, or category between documents and the NEET application can lead to rejection of the candidature for that round.

Candidates should monitor upneet.gov.in for counselling schedule announcements, document checklists, and any year-specific changes to the reservation policy. DMET typically publishes detailed instructions before each counselling round, including the exact list of acceptable certificate formats and issuing authorities.