Latest news with #MAMEI
Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
HC stays gov resolution asking minority institutions to enforce quotas in FYJC admissions
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday stayed a resolution issued by the Maharashtra government on May 6, which said that minority educational institutes must have reservation for Scheduled Castes/Schedule Tribes (SC/ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in first year junior college (FYJC) admissions. Stating that social reservation should not be applicable to any seat in a minority educational institution, a division bench of justices M S Karnik and N R Borkar stayed the resolution and asked the state to update the FYJC admission portal. The court asked the state to respond in four weeks and scheduled the next hearing on August 6. The order follows petitions filed by Solapur's APD Jain Pathashala, a minority institution that runs the Walchand College of Arts and Science and the Hirachand Nemchand College of Commerce in Mumbai, and another petition by the Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions. Senior advocate Milind Sathe, represented the petitioners, and said that according to the Constitution of India, minority educational institutes, both aided or unaided, need not have reservations for socially and educationally backward classes. He added that a similar government resolution issued in 2019 was also withdrawn after it was challenged in the court. The court on Wednesday had asked government pleader Neha Bhide to check whether the government was willing to drop minority institutions from the scope of the resolution. Bhide on Thursday told the court that she had not received any instructions from the government to change the resolution. She added that the resolution did not violate the Indian Constitution and said, 'It is only if the seats remain unfilled and are surrendered that the social reservation comes into place.' The high court had, on Wednesday, questioned the resolution. The court had said that this could just be a mistake by the government for which a correction can be issued, and that an order from the court was not necessary when it came to making such corrections. The Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions (MAMEI) had raised objections about the FYJC admission process for the academic year 2025-26 and said that minority colleges until recently followed a fixed seat distribution of 50% for minority quota, 10% for in-house students, 5% for management quota, and 35% for the rest, including the sports quota and ex-servicemen quota. This year, the government changed the rules for admissions to minority institutions and imposed a reservation for SC/STs and OBCs on the 35% of seats which were in the open category. MAMEI said that the previous reservation structure was legally protected and upheld by the high court and the Supreme Court, and added that the latter had earlier dismissed a petition by the state which challenged the autonomy of minority institutions.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Minority colleges to challenge ‘illegal' govt reservations in FYJC seats in HC
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions (MAMEI), along with some minority colleges from the city, will file a petition in the Bombay high court on Wednesday, challenging social reservations in the First Year Junior College (FYJC) admission process for 2025-26 for vacant seats in minority colleges. The association claims the state has, without official notification, altered the seat allocation on the centralised admission portal by applying Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC) quotas to Open Category seats in minority colleges. This, they argue, violates long-established legal protections granted to minority institutions. According to MAMEI, minority colleges follow a court-approved structure, 50% seats for the minority community, 10% in-house, 5% management and 35% general category—which includes sports and ex-servicemen quotas. The association says this structure has been upheld repeatedly by both the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court, including in a 2001 case where a similar state attempt was struck down. Despite a formal letter to school education minister Dada Bhuse, the association says no response was received, prompting it to take legal action. 'The government is bypassing the legal framework without even issuing a proper resolution or circular,' said a representative. Four Jain minority colleges—including institutions in Nagpur—have already filed separate petitions before the Bombay high court and its Nagpur bench. Another petition has been submitted by Solapur's Walchand College. Christian colleges from Nagpur may also join the legal fight. The controversy began when minority colleges noticed discrepancies after the state uploaded the 2025-26 seat matrix on its official portal. On June 10, through a government resolution, the government again clarified that minority colleges can fill 50% seats from their respective communities. The remaining vacant seats could be passed on to other minorities and, if still unfilled, surrendered to the central pool where, it claimed, standard reservations apply.
