No 10% EWS Quota in PG Medical Courses in Maharashtra for 2019-20: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that 10% EWS (economically weaker section) quota cannot be applied to post-graduate (PG) medical courses in Maharashtra for the academic year 2019-20 as admission process started long before the provision came into force.

A vacation bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose said 10% EWS quota cannot be granted at the cost of others unless additional seats are created by the Medical Council of India.

The bench noted that admission process for PG medical courses started in November 2018 while the 103 Constitutional amendment granting 10% EWS quota was passed in January this year.

The bench said the Maharashtra government enforced the 10 EWS quota for PG medical courses in March.

"Ten per cent EWS quota cannot be granted to the ongoing admission process. You cannot change the rules of game when the game is on," the bench said.

The court's order came on a plea filed by a student from General Category saying that unless additional seats are created, the ten per cent EWS quota will eat into their share of seats.

The student Rajat Rajendra Agrawal had challenged two circulars of the Maharashtra government by which 10% per cent EWS quota was enforced in PG medical courses of the state.

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) lashed out at the BJP government for "hoodwinking" the people.

State NCP president Jayant Patil also wondered how the state government failed before the apex court despite Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis having studied every aspect of the issue in detail.

"Hoodwinking people by speaking lies is BJP's specialty! It is evident from the Supreme Court's stay on reservations, first for Marathas and now the economically weaker sections in medical education. How come the government failed despite the chief minister studying every aspect in detail?" Patil said in a tweet posted in Marathi.