Maratha order: FYJC process stayed, more medical seats free

MUMBAI: Hours after the Supreme Court’s order on Maratha quota, the school education department stayed the ongoing first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions until further orders. The second FYJC merit list was to be released at 10am on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the stay has brought relief to several medical aspirants as it frees up 12% more seats for open category students in MBBS colleges, at least for this year.
Last year, the education department had implemented the 12% reservation in FYJC admissions in accordance with the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act. This year, out of the 3.1 lakh seats in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, 17,844 were reserved under the quota and 2,923 students had applied. In the first merit list announced on August 30, a total of 2,309 students were allotted a seat under the quota.
“With reference to the orders of the Supreme Court regarding SEBC reservation, the rest of the admission process is postponed until further notice. The revised timetable for the online process will be declared on the basis of the orders of the state government,” said a note on the FYJC admission portal.
Vacant quota seats are added to the open category pool after the third merit list.
As many as 53,383 students had confirmed their admissions in the first merit list last week and nearly 1.6 lakh students will participate in upcoming rounds.
Open category medical students could now compete for 38% of the total seats as opposed to 26% last year. A total of 670 MBBS seats would be released for open category students in government and private medical colleges, said Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative.
The court, though, said postgraduate medical admissions, which are already done, should not be altered.
“This is a much-awaited relief for all those who were affected by over 50% reservations. Meritorious students from two batches of post-graduate and one batch of MBBS students were affected. We hope the Constitution bench upholds the case in our favour. Till then, we are relieved over the stay,” said Uday Dhople, petitioner in the case. Anju Meswani from Save Merit, Save Nation, which has been fighting against excessive quota, welcomed the move too.
While admissions to FYJC have been stayed till further notice, a few non-minority colleges are worried about undergraduate admissions. “Most colleges have filled their seats. Mumbai University’s three rounds of admissions were completed last month. Colleges which have vacant seats are now being allowed to admit students. We do not know if this remaining process will be impacted after the court order but we will wait for the government and university’s directives on the same,” said a college principal.
A higher education department official said admissions to all undergraduate and post-graduate technical and professional courses are yet to commence. “We will follow the SC directive in admissions to professional courses. But the department will have to consult with the law and judiciary department to see if the undergraduate admissions will be affected," he added.