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- The High Court of Bombay pointed that the state government should not exclude the PG medical aspirants on the ground of domicile.
- The HC quashed the notification and termed it as arbitrary as it will make thousands of aspirants ineligible.
On February 22, 2018, the High Court of Bombay quashed the recent notification issued by Maharashtra government that made non-domicile students ineligible for the admission to PG medical courses under state quota. The notification was issued in November 2017, which stated that MBBS graduates from outside Maharashtra, as well as, students who completed their graduation in Maharashtra but are not domicile holders of the state, will not eligible for the admission to Post Graduate (PG) medical courses.
A bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and BR Gavai pointed that the notification issued by the state government is not maintainable in law and is arbitrary. The High Court pointed that the state government should not exclude thousands of eligible students on the ground of domicile.
The state government of Maharashtra argued that the state government’s decision is justifiable as the revised rules ensure the maximum number of PG medical aspirants from Maharashtra secure admission. The main aim of the decision was to ensure better public healthcare in Maharashtra. However, the court did not consider the argument of state government and quashed the domicile rule.
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The state government is planning to contend the decision and is seeking advice from the law and judiciary department in this regard. Once the matter has been discussed from different legal matters the state is likely to move to supreme court.
In 2017, the state had deemed domicile mandatory for admission to 50% of the seats in PG medical courses offered by government, civic and private colleges. This rule has made over 400 students who pursued MBBS from Maharashtra medical colleges ineligible for PG colleges offered by state government colleges.
Prior to this, admissions to these seats were open to all candidates who had completed their MBBS from the medical colleges in the state. Private colleges reserve 50% seats are for state candidates, 50% for institutional quota out of which 15% are reserved for NRI.
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As per the previous order of the Supreme Court of India, all the medical colleges in Maharashtra must reserve 50% seats under the state quota and the rest of the seats under All India Quota (AIQ). According to these rules, students who belong to either domicile of Maharashtra or completed their graduation from the state-run government or private medical colleges were eligible for the admission to PG medical courses. However, the November 2017 notification is quite contrasting.
