90:10 formula: hearing to continue today

He further cited a regulation which says that a student belongs to any statutory board is eligible for gaining admission to junior colleges.

Seervai said that half the seats in minority institutions remain outside the 90:10 quota rule,which defies principle of equality.

Meanwhile,one of the petitioners,whose daughter is a CBSE student,argued that if 90:10 system comes into effect,an SSC student with 75% marks may get admission in top colleges while CBSE/ICSE students with 91% or 92% marks may be denied admission.

The arguments remained incomplete on Tuesday. The government lawyers as well as lawyers appearing for the interveners,who support the quota system,are yet to argue.

The schools and students had contended that as per the state government’s resolution and subsequent affidavit,they are treating this as a reservation that cannot hold water as it was in violation of the constitution.

Senior counsels Iqbal Chhagla,Janak Dwarakadas and Navroz Seervai,who are appearing for the petitioners had pointed out that “reservation has to be through legislation and not by executive fiat.”

“The purported reservation is unconstitutional and void as it has neither constitutional sanction nor is it supported by force of law.”

Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S C Dharmadhikari had asked the government whether it was a reservation or classification to which government’s counsel K K Singhvi had replied that it was a quota related to classification. Maharashtra Government has worked out the 90:10 formula to normalise the marks difference between SSC and non-SSC board students. As per the decision,90% of seats of standard XI will be reserved for SSC board students and the remaining 10% for non-SSC students.