Bombay High Court halts Maharashtra’s order mandating reservations for SC/ST/OBC in minority junior colleges. Court finds merit in petitions; social quota won’t apply for Class 11 admissions this year.
Mumbai: Today, on June 12, the Bombay High Court has temporarily stopped the Maharashtra government from forcing minority educational institutions to follow its order to reserve seats for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions.
This decision was made on Thursday by a division bench of Justices M S Karnik and N R Borkar.
The court passed this interim order while hearing multiple petitions filed by minority educational institutions.
These institutions had challenged a government resolution dated May 6, 2024, issued by the School Education and Sports Department.
This resolution made it mandatory for minority institutes to apply constitutional and social reservations in their admissions.
The High Court, after examining the matter, found merit in the arguments made by the petitioners.
Therefore, it decided that the social reservation policy mentioned in the government’s resolution would not apply to minority institutions during this year’s Class 11 admissions.
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The court clearly stated:
“We find substance in the petitioners’ arguments and hence the mandate of social reservation will not be applicable for Class 11 admissions in minority educational institutions.”
While granting this relief, the High Court also put a stay on the specific clause of the May 6 resolution that brought minority educational institutes under the purview of the reservation policy.
The bench remarked:
“We are granting a stay on the clause of the resolution that included minority educational institutes for the reservation.”
The bench has now asked the state government to respond to these petitions by filing an affidavit and scheduled the matter for the next hearing on August 6, 2024.
The court directed:
“The government shall file its affidavit in reply to the petitions. The matter is posted for further hearing on August 6.”
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