Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Monday signed an ordinance promulgated by the state government that upholds admissions given to students under the Maratha quota in postgraduate medical and dental courses. The ordinance is good news for 253 students whose seats were confirmed under the quota. However, parents of students in the open category said they will take the issue to court again.

The state issued the ordinance after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC. The HC said reservations under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, for PG medical courses, will not apply this academic year. This cancelled admissions given to students under the quota and necessitated fresh admissions.

Last week, the state cabinet cleared a draft ordinance in a meeting and sent it to the governor for a final approval.

The Maharashtra State Reservation (of seats for admission in educational institutions in the state and appointments in public services and posts under the state) for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Amendment and Validation Ordinance, 2019, makes way for 16% reservation for students from the Maratha community in the current academic year. This reservation will apply to all postgraduate and undergraduate courses that require taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) or any other national entrance test.

However, despite the ordinance, Maratha students who have been agitating against the HC court ruling continued their stir at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. One of the protesting students, Shivaji Bhonsale, said they are protesting as they have not received a copy of the ordinance. “We have not got any intimation from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) either. Until they put it up on their website, we will continue our agitation,” he said. The students have been agitating for the past 15 days.

The state government has also sought an additional 213 medical and dental seats from the centre.

The state cabinet has also given an in-principal nod to provide scholarships for students from the general category, whose admissions would be affected by the reservation. The government has not yet formalised a policy for this, or budgeted for the decision.

First Published: May 21, 2019 00:37 IST