Mumbai: Students opposing Maratha quota reservation for admissions to Postgraduate (PG) and dental courses staged a protest on Saturday at Carter Road, Bandra (west). Students claimed the quota policy should be scrapped as it is unfair for the students of the open category and ‘leads to murder of merit based admission’.
Students have been protesting over this issue since last two weeks claiming the 16 per cent reservation for Maratha quota does not allow students of open category to secure admissions. This has even lesser number of seats claim students from the open category.
‘Murder of merit’ was the slogan of students who were protesting over the reservation policy. Alka Jain, a student, said, “Admissions to medical and dental courses should be based on merit only. Quota policies based on caste do not allow students of open category to seek admissions even though they have high marks.”
On the other hand, around 206 students who have secured admissions under Maratha quota are against the demand to scrap the reservation policy. Shivaji Bhosale, a student, said, “We have already secured admissions and now our seats cannot be cancelled. The state should resolve this issue and ensure our admissions are not affected.”
Students are waiting for an ordinance to be passed by the state. Moreover, on May 25, the last lot of admissions to PG medical and dental courses will be held as per directions by the Supreme Court (SC). A senior officer of the higher education department, said, “We wish to seek more time so that we can resolve this issue and provide a solution. We want to assure students their admissions will not be affected.”
