High Court dismisses plea seeking stay on 10% EWS quota

According to the MUHS Act, any changes to the admission process need to happen at least six months before the new academic year starts and shall not exceed August 1 of each academic year.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the implementation of 10% quota for the economically weaker section (EWS) in the admissions to postgraduate (PG) medical courses in Maharashtra , saying all high courts had been restrained from hearing petitions pertaining to the issue by the Supreme Court (SC).

High Court dismisses plea seeking stay on 10% EWS quota

The petition, filed by Dr Angad Ranadive and four others who challenged the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 — which provides 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the economically backward sections in the unreserved category — argued the implementation of this reservation to PG medical admissions in the state was contrary to the rules of the Maharashtra University Health Sciences (MUHS) Act.

According to the MUHS Act, any changes to the admission process need to happen at least six months before the new academic year starts and shall not exceed August 1 of each academic year.

The petitioners, therefore, argued the EWS quota — implemented in March — did not conform to MUHS rules and the state should be restrained from applying it to the current academic year.

The petitioner, in an earlier hearing, had said they wanted to withdraw the petition in the apex court but they failed to do so.