The Legislative Council on Friday passed the Bill to amend the SEBC Act (Socially Economically Backward Class) to ensure 16% reservation to students of Maratha community in postgraduate medical admissions. The Assembly had cleared the Bill earlier this week, while it was presented in the Council on Friday and was passed unanimously.
The Bill will now be forwarded to the Governor and will come into effect the day it is signed. An Ordinance had preceded the Bill in 2019, when the Government had promulgated it to amend the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Reservation Act. This was done to meet the long standing demand of reservation to Maratha students in post-graduate medical courses across the State.
The State government’s decision followed agitation by the community over demands for a 16% reservation in education and government jobs last year. A similar proposal of the previous Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government was struck down by the courts after it was introduced in 2014. But the BJP government reintroduced it by promulgating an Ordinance after it received permission from the Election Commission in the run up to Lok Sabha elections. This after the courts had cancelled the 16 % SEBC quota for post-graduate medical seats in the state in 2018.
Published - June 22, 2019 01:24 am IST
