HC denies Interim Relief to Aspirants seeking MBBS admission under Orphan Quota

Mumbai: While considering a plea by two young girls seeking reservation in the 1 percent parallel reservation quota for "orphans" to get admitted to the undergraduate medical courses, the Bombay High Court bench recently refused to grant them interim relief.

These two girls had urged the Court to grant them reservation with pending issuance of "orphan" certificates. However, the HC bench of Justices Sunil B Shukre and Firdosh P Pooniwalla observed that if the relief was granted and the final judgment went against the petitioners, this would deprive some other orphans of getting medical seats.

“If the said interim relief sought is granted, and if at the final hearing of this petition, this court decides against the petitioners, then the same would amount to depriving some other orphans of seats in the medical courses in which the petitioners are seeking admission. Even though the petitioners have submitted that they would not claim any equities if interim relief sought by them is granted, the same would still deprive other orphans of two seats in the medical course. For this reason also, we are not inclined to grant the interim relief sought by the petitioners,” observed the HC bench.

The HC bench was considering a plea by The Nest India Foundation. Filing the plea, the petitioner students challenged the Government Resolution dated April 06, 2023, by which the State introduced a 1% horizontal reservation for orphans in education and government employment.

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As per the latest media report by Free Press Journal, the counsel for the petitioners' Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud contended that the GR was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India because it discriminated between 'orphans' and 'abandoned' children.

It was further submitted by the petitioners' counsel that both orphans and abandoned children required protection and discriminating between these two in the context of horizontal reservation would be unconstitutional and ultra vires Article 14. He further argued that the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act) did not make discrimination between an abandoned child and an orphan.

The petitioners' counsel Advocate Chandrachud also referred to "abandoned child" certificates issued by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to the two girls under the JJ Act and argued that the CWC had also considered them as orphans.

Claiming that the GR was unconstitutional, the petitioners sought a directive to the State authorities to consider them in the quota under the GR till the plea was finally heard. They argued that without the interim relied they would lose the opportunity to get admitted in the medical course and become doctors.

On the other hand, the counsel for the State Government, Advocate General Birendra Saraf pointed out that the petitioner was not an institution registered under the Woman and Child Department or recognized by any other state department.

He also said that it was not possible for the respondent authorities to verify if the said two young girls were actually orphans as a letter by the mother of one of the two girls showed that she was admitted to the petitioner institution only for obtaining education, adds Indian Express.

Apart from this, Advocate General Birendra Saraf contended that the Government had not included an "abandoned child' in the GR since its inclusion "was capable of gross abuse and misuse". He further submitted that it was a policy decision of the Government and it ought not to be interfered with.

Responding to this, Chandrachud submitted that the fact that a policy 'may be misused' did not mean that the said policy should not be made applicable. He pointed out that even the policy for caste reservations was misused on occasions. However, it did not mean that the State did not provide for caste reservations.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the State argued that the provisions of the JJ Act, which did not deal with reservation, could not be used as an aid for widening the scope of the word orphan in the GR.

Taking note of the submissions, the HC bench observed that a detailed examination was required in respect of all the issues and therefore, interim relief could not be granted to the girls, since it would amount to final relief.

Also Read: 1 Percent Reserved Quota In Maharashtra Medical Institutions For Students From Orphanages