Now Council clears bill on Maratha quota in PG medical courses

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The Maharashtra Legislative Council Friday unanimously cleared a bill to provide reservation to the Maratha community in post-graduate medical courses.

This comes a day after the bill was unanimously passed in the Legislative Assembly.

The BJP-led state government had earlier promulgated an ordinance to amend the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Reservation Act, 2018 to provide reservation to Maratha students in post-graduate medical courses.

On November 29 last year, the Maharashtra Legislature had passed a bill proposing 16 per cent reservation in education and government jobs for Marathas, declared as socially and educationally backward class by the government.

However, the admissions to post-graduate medical courses had begun on November 2.

Citing this reason, students from the open category had moved the Bombay High Court and the reservation was struck down.

Last month, the Nagpur bench of the high court had said that the 16 per cent reservation for the Maratha community under the SEBC category will not be applicable for the post-graduate medical courses this year. The high court had contended that the government's decision to introduce the quota was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court had also upheld the high court order, cancelling the 16 per cent SEBC quota for post-graduate medical seats in the state.

Last month, the Maharashtra government had received permission from the Election Commission (EC) to promulgate the ordinance. It was promulgated to restore the admissions already done.

As both the Houses of the Legislature have cleared the bill, it will now be sent to the Governor for his approval. It will come into effect after the governor signs the bill.