The Supreme Court has directed the Bombay High Court to urgently hear petitions challenging the 10% Maratha reservation ahead of NEET 2025. This urgent move impacts many students preparing for medical entrance exams.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to establish a bench to urgently hear a series of petitions contesting the 10% reservation granted to the Maratha community.
This directive arose from a writ petition submitted by students preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in 2025.
They contended that the delay in resolving this matter was negatively affecting their right to fair and equal consideration in the ongoing admission process.
A Bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih chose not to address the petition’s merits, given that similar challenges are already pending before the Bombay High Court. However, the Court acknowledged the academic urgency expressed by the petitioners.
Consequently, the Court urged the High Court to consider the issue of interim relief as soon as possible, given its potential impact on thousands of students.
The petitioners noted that while arguments before the Bombay High Court concluded in April, the case has not been listed since the transfer of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya to Delhi.
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The plea, filed by NEET aspirant Diya Ramesh Rathi and two other parents, challenges the constitutional validity of the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024, which reinstates the 10% reservation for the Maratha community in education and public employment.
Citing the Constitution Bench judgment in Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil v. State of Maharashtra (2021), which invalidated a similar law on the basis that the Maratha community is not considered a socially or educationally backward class, the petitioners argued that the new Act is a clear attempt to undermine established legal precedents.
The plea describes the new law as manifestly arbitrary, politically motivated, and violative of Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution.
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The petitioners have requested a stay on the implementation of the Act or, at the very least, its exclusion from the NEET 2025 admission process to prevent irreversible harm to students from the open category.
With counseling and seat allocation scheduled to begin soon, the petition warns that inaction would lead to an unconstitutional reservation system affecting admissions statewide.
Senior Advocate Ravi K Deshpande and Advocate Ashwin Deshpande represented the petitioners in this matter.