Latest news with #MaharashtraAssociationofMinorityEducationalInstitutions
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 He added that a similar government resolution issued in 2019 was also withdrawn after it was challenged in the court.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.
The Hindu
19 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Bombay High Court stays SC, ST, OBC reservations in minority institutions for class 11 admissions
The Bombay High Court on Thursday (June 12, 2025) stayed the reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for the admission of first year of junior college (FYJC) at the minority institutions in Maharashtra. This interim stay is on the Maharashtra government's mandate to minority educational institutions to reserve seats for ST, SC or OBC in the FYJC admissions. Passing the order, a Division Bench of Justices, M.S. Karnik and N.R. Borkar observed, 'Prima facie, we find substance in the submissions advanced by the petitioners for the grant of interim relief. Accordingly, insofar as admission to class 11 is concerned, the mandate of social reservation shall not be made applicable to any seats in minority educational institutions.' The court passed the order on a bunch of petitions moved by Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions, along with prominent colleges from Solapur and Mumbai such as, Jai Hind, KC College, St. Xavier's, Walchand College of Arts and Science and Hirachand Nemchand College of Commerce, who challenged Maharashtra government's May 6, 2025, government resolution (GR) and called it 'arbitrary' and 'lacking legal authority'. Clause 11 of the GR issued by the School Education Department, permits vacant seats under the minority quota to be filled through centralised admission process, subject to applicable social and parallel reservations once intra-minority adjustments are exhausted. It says, 'If admissions are lower than the intake capacity in minority quota, admissions can be given as per interchanging between linguistic and religious minority groups. Even after that, if seats remain vacant, those surrendered vacant seats will be filled based on the centralised admission process where all social and parallel reservations are applicable.' Representing the petitioners, senior advocate, Milind Sathe argued that the Article 15(5) of the Constitution excludes minority educational institutes, aided or unaided, from applicability of reservations for socially and educationally backward classes. He further contended that under Article 30(1) (right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions), the right of admission is exclusively with the management of the institution. Even unfilled minority seats should revert to open category admissions and not be subjected to reservation quotas, he said. The court noted that an earlier High Court ruling had quashed a circular issued by Mumbai University for a similar reservation in minority educational institutions and for that the court had asked the State government to issue a corrigendum for issuing the GR. Government Pleader Neha Bhide submitted that she did not have any instructions from the government to withdraw the resolution or issue a corrigendum. 'The right of the minority community is not being touched by the GR. The minority community can fill up all the seats that they have. It is only at the stage when the seats remain unfilled, and the seats are surrendered that the social reservation comes into place. The reservation would be only for the surrendered seats and this is not a case which violates constitutional mandate.' The Bench noted that it found merit in the arguments presented by the educational institutes and based on that, it decided to grant an interim stay on the clause of the May 6 GR. It further directed the State government to file its affidavit as response to the petitions withing four weeks and kept the matter for further hearing on August 6.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
FYJC admissions: HC halts effect of Maharashtra decision to apply SC/ST/OBC reservation to minority institutions
After the Maharashtra government refused to withdraw its decision to apply SC/ST/OBC reservation to minority trust-run junior colleges for the First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions, the Bombay High Court on Thursday stayed the effect of the decision, dealing the government a setback. The court granted the interim relief to colleges run by minority trusts and their association after finding substance in their submissions. 'Accordingly, as far as admission to Class 11 is concerned, the mandate of social reservation shall not be made applicable to any minority educational institutions,' the court held and directed the state government to take steps in that regard. The state will have to update the online admission portal in accordance with court order. This came after the government lawyer informed the court that she had no instructions from the officials to withdraw the relevant clause in the government resolution issued by the school education department. On Wednesday, the court asked the government to consider withdrawing the relevant portion of the government resolution. The court also reminded the government that it had withdrawn a similar government resolution in 2019. A bench of Justices Makarand S Karnik and Nitin R Borkar passed an interim order on a batch of petitions by the Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions, two minority colleges in Solapur and those from South Mumbai, including Jai Hind, KC, HR and St Xavier's colleges, challenging the government resolution. Senior advocate Milind Sathe and advocate S C Naidu, appearing for petitioners, argued that the decision was 'arbitrary' and 'imposed without any authority of law' and without hearing or consulting them. They claimed that minority institutions were excluded from applying social reservations under Article 15(5) of the Constitution and that they can establish and administer educational institutions, as per Article 30 (1). Government Pleader Neha Bhide, however, defended the decision stating that minority educational institutions' rights were not fettered by the government resolution, as per which she said social reservation was applicable only to the surrendered seats from the minority quota and would not therefore affect such institutions. As per the established practice followed until the previous academic year, 45 per cent of the total intake in minority institutions was kept open to all students, regardless of category, after allocating 50 per cent for the respective minority community and 5 per cent for the management quota. However, this year, after the impugned government resolution, the FYJC admission portal showed that SC/ST/OBC reservation is being applied to those 45 per cent seats, which led to confusion and controversy in FYJC admissions for 2025-26. Clause 11 in the May 6 government resolution stated, 'If admissions are lower than the intake capacity in minority quota, admissions can be given as per interchanging between linguistic and religious minority groups. Even after that, if seats remain vacant, those surrendered vacant seats will be filled based on the centralised admission process where all social and parallel reservations are applicable.' While colleges claimed that the government resolution pertained to leftover seats in the minority quota, government officials had said it implied that social reservation would be applicable to all open (non-minority) seats in minority-trust-run colleges. Thereafter, the state government issued a corrective resolution on June 2, which implied social reservation to all open seats in minority colleges. The Association, through its writ plea for setting aside the relevant portion of the government resolution, also sought the court's directive to authorities to take immediate steps to correct/update the online admission portal for Class 11 admissions for the member institutions. On June 10, the government issued a new corrective government resolution, which brought back the same sentence along with additional inputs from the May 6 government resolution. The court has asked the state government to file its reply to the pleas within four weeks and posted further hearing to August 6.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
FYJC admissions: Consider withdrawing decision on quota in minority institutions, HC tells Maharashtra govt
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday told the Maharashtra government to consider withdrawing the portion in its decision that applied SC/ST/OBC reservation in minority trust-run junior colleges for First Year Junior College (FYJC) or Class 11 admissions. After the court's query, the state government lawyer submitted that it may be possible to withdraw the clause in the impugned May 6 Government Resolution (GR) and that she would take instructions from higher authorities and inform the court about the same on Thursday. A bench of Justices Makarand S Karnik and Nitin R Borkar was hearing batch of by the Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions, two minority colleges in Solapur and those from South Mumbai, including Jai Hind, KC, HR and St Xavier's colleges, challenging the GRs concerned and terming them 'arbitrary' and 'imposed without any authority of law'. The association cited various past judgements in similar cases and argued that the minority institutions are not required to maintain social reservations. According to the established practice followed until the previous academic year, 45 per cent of the total intake in minority institutions was kept open to all students, regardless of category, after allocating 50 per cent for the respective minority community and 5 per cent for the management quota. However, from this year, the FYJC admission portal showed that SC/ST/OBC reservations are being applied to those 45 per cent seats, which led to confusion and controversy in FYJC admissions for the academic year 2025-26. After Government Pleader Neha Bhide submitted that the GR was issued to bring uniformity in online FYJC admissions, the bench said that in 2019 similar GR was withdrawn by the government. 'Why did you (state government) bring minority institutions? It should not be difficult to withdraw. Why do you not talk to officers and withdraw this. Every time you do not need order from us when things are so apparent. It can be a bona fide mistake. Issue a corrigendum. Solve the problem. If not, we are here (to hear pleas and pass order),' Justice Karnik orally remarked. Bhide said that while withdrawing the entire GR was not possible, 'it is possible that clause 11 can be removed'. The court asked her to take instructions from high-level officials and inform the decision on Thursday, when the matter will be heard next. Clause 11 in the May 6 GR issued by state's school education department stated, 'If admissions are lower than the intake capacity in minority quota, admissions can be given as per interchanging between linguistic and religious minority groups. Even after that, if seats remain vacant, those surrendered vacant seats will be filled based on the centralised admission process where all social and parallel reservations are applicable.' While colleges claimed that the GR pertained to left-over seats in minority quota, government officials said it implied that social reservation will be applicable to all open (non-minority) seats in minority-trust run colleges. Thereafter, as per state government, it issued corrective GR on June 2, which implied social reservation to all open seats in minority colleges. The Association, through its writ plea, sought court's directive to authorities to take immediate steps to correct/update the online admission portal for class 11 admissions for the member institutions in Maharashtra. It said the same should be done by deleting/removing the social reservation quota (SC/ST/OBC Reservation quota) and updating/rectifying the in-house and management quota as per the May 6 Government Resolution (GR) like quota and seat distribution followed in Academic Year 2024-25. It sought that the concerned clause be declared arbitrary and unconstitutional and the same be set aside. On June 10, the government issued a new corrective GR which brought back the same sentence along with additional inputs from the May 6 GR.
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.
