Students applying for admissions to First Year Junior College (FYJC), medical, technical, law and other professional courses in government colleges and public universities in Maharashtra are in a fix after the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned the Maratha quota or Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) reservation matter by four weeks.
Students said the adjournment of the hearing will directly lead to a delay of one month in their admission process. Amey Salvi, a student wanting to secure admission to FYJC, said, “I have already enrolled for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) classes in order to pursue engineering after Class 12. My JEE classes have already begun online but, I have not yet secured admission to FYJC.”
Rakhee Patel, a student aiming to pursue medical (MBBS) programme said, “The admission process for All India Quota seats have started with the online counselling process for medical and dental Undergraduate (UG) programmes. But, the Maharashtra state government has not yet released the timetable for the admission and seat allotment process. Following the SC adjournment, I fear whether our admission process will be halted for another four weeks which will delay our entire academic year by another month."
Apart from FYJC and medical admissions, other professional courses are also facing delay. Farooque Malik, a student planning on securing admission to Bachelor of Law (LLB) programme said, "I want to pursue LLB course from a state public university. But the university has not declared a merit list due to the pending matter of SEBC or Maratha quota reservation in the court. Our academic year has already been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and this Maratha reservation matter is adding to it."
On September 9, the SC directed an interim stay on reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for candidates belonging to the Maratha community in Maharashtra. Following which, admissions across Maharashtra are on hold following a stay on the 12 per cent quota, doled out by the state after terming the Marathas a Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC). During the hearing on October 27, the SC adjourned the matter by four weeks.
