PG med aspirants seek SC help for admission process

They had requested that the court direct the state to issue a revised seat matrix sans EWS quota, allow all aspirants to fill fresh option forms and accordingly allot seats to them.

A day after the state declared the process and schedule for a final counselling round for general category candidates of post-graduate (PG) medical and dental courses, as directed by the Supreme Court (SC), a group of medical aspirants once again sought the court’s intervention in the admission process on Friday.

Candidates are also unhappy with the state’s decision to conduct counselling for only those seats earlier reserved for EWS and those left vacant after the previous round. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The 17 petitioners, who hail from various parts of the state, have requested the court to allow a fresh choice-filling exercise before the counselling round, even though the apex court, in its verdict on Tuesday, had said that the candidates won’t be allowed to change their choice of preferred colleges and streams. The matter will likely be heard next week, after counselling begins on Sunday.

The aspirants had first moved the court against how the CET cell conducted the admission process for PG medical and dental admissions, after the apex court scrapped 10% economically weaker section (EWS) quota for these courses. They had requested that the court direct the state to issue a revised seat matrix sans EWS quota, allow all aspirants to fill fresh option forms and accordingly allot seats to them. The court, in its verdict, directed the state to hold a physical-counselling round for all general category candidates on the basis of their original choices and refused to allow fresh filling of choices. In their application, filed on Friday, the aspirants argued that their earlier choices can’t be termed valid as they were restricted by EWS quota, which is not applicable anymore. “While making choices, the applicants and other qualified medical students, were prejudiced not in filling choices for seats earmarked for EWS category (total 97 ),” read the application.

The applicants cited the cell’s decision to redo the entire admission process after the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court cancelled 16% reservation for Marathas under SEBC category to argue that it should similarly redo the entire process in the aftermath of EWS verdict. Meanwhile, EWS candidates also want fresh option filling. “Many of us had selected only EWS quota seats. Now that the quota is cancelled, we should get to choose open-category seats,” said an EWS candidate from Thane. Candidates are also unhappy with the state’s decision to conduct counselling for only those seats earlier reserved for EWS and those left vacant after the previous round. “This violates the court’s decision, which required counselling for all general-category seats,” said the candidate.