A day after the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) cell stayed the admission procedure for post-graduate medical courses for seven days, Maharashtra government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension till May 31 to complete the process. As per the rules this has to be completed by May 25.
In its verdict on May 9, the apex court had struck down the 16% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) students on PG seats this year. The State government had on November 30, 2018 passed a law reserving 16% seats for Maratha community under the SEBC category. As per the court observation, since the admission process was initiated on November 3, the reservation under SEBC category could not be granted for this year’s admissions in post-graduate medical courses.
Maratha students, aided by political parties have been protesting since the court verdict asking government to ensure 16% reservation in this year’s course as well. On Wednesday, a delegation of students, parents and political leaders were called for the meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, who is in-charge of Cabinet sub-committee dealing with Maratha reservation issues, said after the meeting that the State government has written to the Election Commission of India seeking permission to make certain announcements in this regard and has requested for lifting of the model code of conduct for this particular matter.
According to sources, the State government is also likely to promulgate an Ordinance, the announcement of which is being withheld owing of implementation of Model Code of Conduct. Sources mentioned that the Ordinance may use Section 17(1) which says if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of Maharashtra State Reservation (of seats for admission in education institutions in the State and for appointments in public services and posts under the State) for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, the Government may, as occasion arises, by an order published in the Official Gazette, do anything not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, which appears to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulty within two years from the date of commencement of the Act
The State government has also written to the Union government seeking an increase in the number of seats for PG medical course to ensure all students from SEBC who had secured admission under quota are not affected and open category students are also not harmed.
On Wednesday evening, a delegation of students and parents of the open category students held a meeting with Mr. Fadnavis asking him to ensure that admission procedure is completed as per schedule and in case government wants to push SEBC reservation, the seats of open category students are not decreased.
The Chief Minister assured the open category students that he has approached the Medical Council of India and Government of India to increase 144 seats in the State and that the admission process will finish by May 25. “The SEBC Act has been passed by the government of Maharashtra, so I will have to stand by it, he has said. He has assured that no injustice will be meted out to either open or reserved category students,” Sudha Shenoy said.