On May 23, postgraduate medical students from Mumbai, who fall in the general category, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the ordinance signed by Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao. The ordinance allowed for the reservation of Maratha quota or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) in the current year's medical admissions process for postgraduate medical and dental streams. Three students from the general category filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court.
Last week, a resolution was passed by the state cabinet for an ordinance to amend the SEBC Act 2018 in order to provide relief to disgruntled medical aspirants from the Maratha community.
Earlier, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had ruled in favour of the open category students when it disallowed the 16 per cent SEBC Maratha quota during the current year's postgraduate admission process. The Supreme Court too upheld the decision of the Nagpur Bench on May 9 saying the move will be discriminatory and unjust, even though the state had challenged the verdict of the bench. The state had then asked the State Common Entrance Test Cell for a seven-day stay on the admission procedure while simultaneously seeking an extension from the SC to complete the admission procedure.
According to students from the general category, the ordinance violates the verdicts of the Supreme Court and the High Court. Anurag Mankar, advocate who represents the general category students, said, “The ordinance bypassing the SC verdict is invalid and with a malafide intent. It was passed hastily and in an arbitrary manner."
Students and parents from the undergraduate medical community are feeling the pinch of the ordinance and are likely to move court this week. This is because the ordinance is also applicable to other courses, including the undergraduate programmes that require the clearing of entrance tests such as NEET and NET. "This is very disturbing. How can the state take away our seats just like that. Where has the advantage and the standing of merit gone? Don't we, the general category students, deserve any better," asked a student who protested against the ordinance, on condition of anonymity.