SC Puts On Hold Maharashtra Government’s Notification For EWS Quota In Postgraduate Medical Courses

A notification issued by the Maharashtra government which gave 10 per cent Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation in batches of postgraduate medical courses has been stalled an interim order of the Supreme Court, reports The Indian Express.

The order was issued by a vacation bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose with the reasoning that the EWS quota which has been approved by Parliament by way of a constitutional amendment cannot be implemented without the Medical Council of India giving the go ahead for the creation of extra seats.

The bench, stating that its current view is ‘tentative’, also observed that the Medical Council of India could any time allow for the implementation of the EWS quota by sanctioning extra seats. A final decision is yet to be taken in the case which was initiated by three general category students.

The Centre had decided to create a new 10 per cent EWS quota this year for the benefit of those students who could not take advantage of caste based affirmative action; the new quota is purely based on the financial background of the candidate.