Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao Monday signed an ordinance to provide quota under the Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) Reservation Act, 2018, to candidates from the Maratha community seeking admission to post-graduate medical and dental courses.
The ordinance was issued by the Governor on the recommendation of the state government to protect the admissions of students in the PG courses.
The ordinance route was taken by the Maharashtra government after the Supreme Court struck down reservations for Maratha students under the SEBC quota in PG medical and dental courses this year. The ruling cancelled admissions granted to 253 students under the quota.
The ordinance is aimed to further explain the intent of the state government to provide quota for the Maratha community.
The state government earlier clarified that the quota was applicable from the time it released the prospectus for the said courses in February 2019.
The state government has also sought more medical and dental seats from the Centre. It also plans to provide scholarships to open category students, if their admission process is disturbed due to implementation of the quota.
In the wake of statewide protests by Maratha community members, the Devendra Fadnavis government had on November 30 last year cleared a 16 per cent quota for the community in education and government jobs, identifying them as Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC).
In March this year, the government had issued a notification for the implementation of the quota in educational institutions.
Earlier this month, the Nagpur bench of the high court had disallowed the reservation for admissions to PG medical courses observing that the quota cannot be applicable with retrospective effect.
The government challenged the HC order in the Supreme Court, which also upheld the HC ruling.
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