Maharashtra: High court relief to tribal students seeking admissions to postgraduate courses

NAGPUR: In a major relief to tribal students seeking admissions in postgraduate engineering courses, Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has granted them interim relief by directing the respondents, including Union ministry of education, to accept the admission forms on the basis of caste/tribe validity certificate issued by the state panel for admission against the seats reserved for scheduled tribes (ST).
A division bench comprising justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor directed the respondents to process the students’ forms as per merit and in accordance with law until further orders. “In the circumstances, we find that prima facie case has been made out by the petitioner. Accordingly, we’re inclined to grant limited interim relief. On the next date, this petition shall be taken up for final disposal. Therefore, parties are put on notice to complete their pleadings well in advance. We also make it further clear that no further time shall be granted in this matter,” the bench said.
The directives came while hearing a plea by the Tribal Officers Forum through counsel Mohan Sudame, praying for interim relief to the tribal students. The petitioner had challenged the rules of centralized counselling for MTech/MArch/MPlan admissions, where it was made mandatory for ST students to submit caste/tribe certificates issued by the Government of India in its own format, which is available on its website.
Sudame contended that Government of India format is different from the certificate issued by the Caste/Tribe Scrutiny Committee, constituted as per the Maharashtra state act to issue and verify caste certificates.
He prayed for permitting the ST students to take part in the admission process on the strength of caste/tribe validity certificates issued by the scrutiny committees constituted under the state act.