The final decision on what should be the domicile requirement for admission to medical courses to 85% state quota seats in Maharashtra will be pronounced today, on 26 July 2018, by the Bombay High Court. Existing rules as per DMER 2018 information brochure asks for a student to have studied SSC, HSC and also to have domicile of the state.
The required condition met with a lot of opposition. Students across the state raised their concerns. A number of petitions have been filed on this matter. Several flip flops have already happened in this ongoing tussle between petitioner and respondents; evidently leading to confusion among students.
The biggest confusion at present is for the 31 students who have got admission through NEET 2018 counselling in Maharashtra already despite not having studied SSC from the state. This happened since pursuant to a notice published after a hearing of 13 June the state had allowed registrations from such candidates on an interim basis. However admission of such candidates is subject to final decision. So if the decision so comes that 10, 12 from Maharashtra, as well as domicile is compulsory for DMER Maharashtra 2018 counselling and admission, then they will lose their seats.
An important aspect being weighed in the case of SSC, HSC, domicile requirement is whether this rule negates the very purpose of offering admission on merit. Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharti Dangre will comprise of the bench that will decide eligibility rules. They will pronounce whether required rules are constitutionally valid or not and whether they violate rules of unreasonableness.
The lawyers who represented students, petitioners in this case, were Shailesh Naidu, Vijay Thorat and Pradnya Talekar. Does the imposition of three requirements make the meaning of local student too rigid?
All eyes are on Bombay High Court for their final decision. Will it be compulsory for students to study SSC, HSC and also domicile to get admission in medical colleges in Maharashtra? Watch out this space for more news.
