THREE DAYS after the state announced domicile-based reservation in private and deemed medical and dental institutes, a holiday court of the Bombay HC stayed the Government Resolution (GR) Sunday. On Thursday, the state released a GR demarcating 67 per cent of PG seats in private and deemed medical colleges for Maharashtra domicile aspirants. This meant that 67 per cent of the PG seats in private and deemed colleges would be reserved for aspirants born in Maharashtra or those who have spent at least 15 years in the state. Undergraduate medical students from other parts of the country who were seeking admission to postgraduate courses this year challenged the decision. A petition was filed in the High Court late on Saturday. The petitioners challenged the GR based on its timing. The admission process for PG medical and dental courses began in January and is still on. The first merit list was out Sunday. Read | Over 120 engineering colleges opt for progressive closure While the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) argued that the admission process was going on and it was late to intervene in the matter, the petitioners argued that the GR rendered them ineligible in the midst of the admission process. Siding with the petitioners, the court stayed the GR. The DMER, which had announced a similar quota for the undergraduate courses, will now approach the Supreme Court. “We had planned to announce the reservation in two phases — first for PG courses and later for UG courses. Now the High Court has stayed our decision in PG courses. We will now seek justice from the Supreme Court,” said Pravin Shinghare, director, DMER. The GR released on Thursday had also introduced social reservations for the first time in deemed and private medical colleges, wherein 25 per cent of the seats in deemed medical and dental universities would be reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Vimukta Jati, Nomadic Tribes (VJNT) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). priyanka.sahoo@expressindia.com
