Maratha Quota in NEET: Supreme Court Flags Delay, Seeks Urgent HC Action

New Delhi: With the NEET admissions commencing soon, the Supreme Court has asked the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to constitute a bench and urgently decide on the pleas challenging the 10% reservation granted to the Maratha Community.

The Apex Court bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih issued these directions while considering a plea by students appearing in the National Eligibility-Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate and postgraduate examinations this year.

In their plea before the top court bench, the petitioners argued that the delay in adjudication of the issue of Maratha Quota for NEET admissions was adversely affecting their right to fair and equal consideration in the ongoing admission process.

Although the Supreme Court bench did not entertain the plea on merits considering the similar challenges already pending before the Bombay High Court, it took note of the academic urgency raised by the petitioners.

Also Read: SC to take a call on Maratha quota in PG medical admissions

As per the latest media report by Bar and Bench, in light of the potential impact on thousands of students, the Court asked the Bombay HC bench to consider the issue of interim relief at the earliest.

In their plea, the petitioners submitted that even though the arguments before the Bombay HC bench had concluded in April, the matter has not been listed since the transfer of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya to Delhi.

The plea was filed by a NEET aspirant and two other parents of students. It challenges the constitutional validity of the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024, through which a 10% reservation was introduced for the Maratha community in education and public employment.

Relying on the Constitution Bench order in the case of Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil v. State of Maharashtra (2021), which had struck down a similar law on the ground that the Maratha community was not a socially or educationally backward class, the petitioners argued that the new Act was a blatant attempt to override settled law.

In their plea, the petitioners charaterised the new law as manifestly arbitrary, politically motivated and violative of Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution and prayed or a stay on the implementation of the Act or at least its exclusion from the NEET 2025 admission process to prevent irreversible harm to open category students.

Pointing out that the counselling and the process for seat allocation are set to commence soon, the petitioners submitted that inaction would result in an unconstitutional reservation regime affecting admissions across the State.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that on February 20, the Maharashtra legislature unanimously passed the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024, providing 10 percent reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.

The State Government notified the Act on February 26, 2024, based on a report from the retired Justice Sunil B. Shukre-led Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC). Citing "exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations", the report justified granting a reservation to the Maratha community, exceeding the 50 percent total reservation limit in the State.

However, it was challenged before the Bombay HC and earlier the HC bench had clarified that any applications received for the NEET exam taking benefit of the concerned reservation would be subject to the High Court orders on the pleas challenging the rule.

Also Read: NEET: Availing 10 percent Maratha Quota Subject to Court Orders, says HC