The Supreme Court today directed the Maharashtra government to revise merit list for admission to postgraduate medical and dental courses in the state following cancellation of the EWS quota yesterday.
The top court criticised the state government for its inaction and warned the Devendra Fadnavis-led administration that it would be held in contempt of court if action were not taken. The deadline for the admissions process has been extended to June 4; it earlier stood at May 31.
The Supreme Court also said that once admissions under EWS stood cancelled, the seats had been converted to open category and revision should have followed.
The court said the state government was attempting to overcome a direct order and if it had been so anxious to help, they should have approached the Medical Council of India for extra seats.
The state government asked the Supreme Court for four to eight days to revise the list but were reprimanded and told they were responsible for the problem.
In an interim order issued yesterday, the Supreme Court had ruled that EWS quotas would not be applicable for admission to postgraduate medical and dental courses in Maharashtra this year. A total of 25 students admitted under this quota are expected to suffer.
In January the Modi government announced 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and higher education for economically weaker sections in the general category and said it would move a constitutional amendment bill to bring it into effect.
The quota will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had cleared the bill on January 8 and 9 respectively, and it was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind.
The top court is seized of a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Constitution (103 Amendment) Act, 2019 which allows grant of quota in jobs and education to EWS.
It earlier refused to stay the Centre's decision but agreed to examine the validity of the law.
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