The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to ensure that the seats made available after the scrapping of the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in postgraduate medical and dental courses are filled strictly on merit.
The apex court also directed the concerned authorities tonot exclude candidates from any category.
A vacation bench comprising Justice Indira Banerjee andJustice Ajay Rastogi said: “The seats will now be available in the generalcategory and will be filled up as per merit in the NationalEligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in accordance with the order dated June 4.
“There can be no question of exclusion of anymeritorious candidate irrespective of the category provided; the candidates getcut-off marks as required for the general category.”
The court was hearing three applications related to the EWSquota application in postgraduate medical colleges.
One application contended that the court’s order may come inthe way of the Bombay High Court hearing a plea challenging the ordinancepassed by the Maharashtra government, which attempts to reinstate Socially andEconomically Backward Classes quota, referred to as Maratha quota.
The second application sought modification of the June 4order and allow students to change their options, in the view of freshcounselling. The Court refused to entertain it.
The third application was filed by a student from the OtherBackward Class (OBC) category which alleged that seats that fell vacant afterthe scrapping of the EWS quota have been included in the general category pool,but students belonging to other categories, despite having merit, were being excluded.
In May, the apex court had struck down the notificationsrelated to EWS quota for the current academic year.
After hearing the petitioners, the court refused to modifythe June 4 order, saying there was no ambiguity which required clarification.
On June 4, the apex court had directed the Maharashtragovernment to reshuffle and hold “final” counselling for generalcandidates who got admission to PG medical and dental seats on or before June14.
The court also added that no petition or application inrelation to admission in this year shall be entertained by any court.
In the June 4 order, the vacation bench comprising JusticeIndu Malhotra and Justice M.R. Shah directed the state government to advertiseand give wide publicity to “final round of counseling” and completethe process within the stipulated time period on the basis of merit, directingthe former not to miss the deadline.
The court also said that preferences made by the candidateswhile filling up the admission forms will remain intact and cannot be changedduring the reshuffling and counselling process. The court had said: “No application andpetition in connection with the admission in PG medical courses in the state,for this current academic year, can be entertained by any other court.”