Domicile quota: State govt moves SC, challenges HC order staying GR
The dispute over reservations in medical and dental colleges for students domiciled in Maharashtra is far from over.
Two days after the Bombay high court (HC) called a special hearing on Sunday and stayed the government resolution (GR) reserving 67.5% postgraduate (PG) seats to students domiciled in Maharashtra, the state filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the stay. Officials from Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) were in Delhi on Tuesday.
“We have filed a petition against the HC’S stay on the state’s GR. As of now, this will only affect postgraduate medical and dental admissions but we wish to implement similar rules for undergraduate admissions too,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, director, DMER. He added that the SC was likely to hear the petition on May 5.
“This [requirement of a domicile] will be a great relief for students of Maharashtra. Since the introduction of National Eligibility-cum-entrance Test (NEET), our students are worried about losing out to those from the central boards,” said the parent of a medical aspirant from Mumbai.
States such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have the highest number of medical and dental institutes as well as seats in the country and are sought after by aspirants from across India . While parents are happy about state government challenging HC’S decision, they are worried this might close doors on admissions to institutes in other states.
“We have to pick our fights well this time because we don’t want another year of unwarranted court cases between the government and the institutes. Our children will be at the receiving end if admissions gets delayed like last year,” said another parent.
While the current petition is only applicable for PG admissions, a source from the medical education department said they are currently working on releasing another GR to highlight the state’s decision to introduce similar domicile quota for undergraduate medical and dental admissions too.