Medical admissions delayed again after Maharashtra CET cell moves high court

After a back and forth over seats for the economically weaker section (EWS) since July 29, the Supreme Court on August 13 called for a stay on the admissions until the Bombay high court clears a petition filed by students from the schedule tribe (ST).

The delay in admissions to undergraduate medical and dental colleges in the state has stretched to the third week.

Instead of the original deadline of August 18, the state can now finish filling up all remaining seats in medical and dental institutes by September 8. (HT image)

The latest reason for delay? On Friday, the state common entrance test (CET) cell approached the Bombay high court (HC) to intervene in the ongoing case on quota seats. The stay on admissions in state medical and dental colleges will remain till the case is heard next week.

“Our representative was in court today to mention our intervention and the court has agreed to schedule a hearing next week. Our aim is to ensure that students don’t lose out on a seat due to a problem with admissions to one particular quota of seats,” said Anand Rayate, commissioner, CET cell, Maharashtra.

He said the date for the hearing has not yet been finalised.

After a back and forth over seats for the economically weaker section (EWS) since July 29, the Supreme Court on August 13 called for a stay on the admissions until the Bombay high court clears a petition filed by students from the schedule tribe (ST).

In their petition filed in the last week of July, they alleged that they were deprived of quota seats as they could not produce caste certificates in time. The SC, in its order on Tuesday, requested a special bench at the high court to look into this matter and solve it at the earliest and extended the deadline too.

Instead of the original deadline of August 18, the state can now finish filling up all remaining seats in medical and dental institutes by September 8.

“The problem affects only a particular group of students, so it is only fair that admissions for the rest of the students continue. We hope the court will see this and lift the blanket stay on UG medical admissions,” said a parent, on condition of anonymity.

Students usually get three days to complete their admission formalities after the announcement of an allotment list, but this year, the process has taken over two weeks due to confusion over newly-included seats in dental courses as well as the floods in Maharashtra.