Postgraduate medical aspirants from the open category on Friday rejected the Maharashtra government’s ordinance offering scholarships in private and deemed colleges. The students will organise a rally at Carter Road on Saturday morning to protest the ordinance.
Following the Cabinet meeting on Friday, which passed the ordinance, Chandrakant Patil, State Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Agriculture, Horticulture and Public Works, said if open category students are not receiving seats due to the 16% Maratha quota and apply to private and deemed colleges through the management quota, the government will offer scholarships.
Calling it an unjust offer, aspirants from the open category said it is an attempt to snatch seats received through merit. The aspirants blamed the government for trying to pacify the Maratha community, despite a clear verdict from the Supreme Court that struck the Maratha quota off postgraduate medical admissions this year.
“We want government colleges only. The patient load and opportunities to learn in private colleges are minimal. After having studied hard and secured ranks, why should we settle for something we do not deserve and want?” Dr. Daksh Mehta, an open category aspirant said.
Dr. Sonam Turkar said the government is making the same offer that it had made to Maratha aspirants, which they had rejected. “After the Maratha aspirants rejected the offer, the government thought of the ordinance. Despite being meritorious, what makes them offer that to us? This is unfair,” she said.
Meanwhile, Maratha aspirants on Friday refused to withdraw their protest from Azad Maidan till a notice of their retainment of admissions was displayed on the portals of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test cell and the Directorate of Medical Education and Research.
“We welcome the government’s move to pass the ordinance, but our ultimate demand is very clear. We want the seats and branches that we had secured under the Maratha quota in the State to be retained. We will not be pacified by step-by-step moves, till our demands see the light of day,” Dr. Harshal Padekar, an aspirant, said.
While the signature of Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao is pending on the ordinance, open category students will move the SC challenging it. Mr. Patil, on the other hand, said the State government will be filing caveats in the Nagpur and Aurangabad benches of the Bombay High Court and the SC.
“The draft of our petition is ready and our lawyers are on standby. The moment we see the ordinance, we will file our petition in the SC. We will not bend down,” Sudha Shenoy, parent of an open category aspirant, said.