The Bombay high court stayed a fresh decision of Maharashtra government that makes domicile mandatory for post graduate medical seats in government run colleges even for those who graduated from colleges in the state.
With the final admission procedure set to begin on May 2 as informed by the state, the government said it was preparing to appeal against the stay, before the Supreme Court.
The order is significant as it comes as a relief to over 700 medical graduates who were overnight rendered ineligible for PG admissions for being non-domiciled. The additional eligibility requirement was forced on students at the fag end of preparation of first merit list in an 'illegal and arbitrary move', said medical students who moved the HC to challenge it.
The State directorate of medical education and Research (DMER) had in a Government Resolution (GR) issued on April 27 decided to allow non-domiciled students admission in a 15% management quota in private medical colleges.
The bench held that the 'change of eligibility criteria at the stage when the first selection list was to be published is in our considered view arbitrary and unreasonable.' Doctors who were given legitimate expectation right since January 2017 that they would be eligible to get admission were on April 27 turned ineligible and would find it impossible now to apply for post graduate seats in their home states or any other state since admission process is midway, the court observed while passing orders in a challenge raised by Dr Gagandeep Mahi and others to the change of eligibility rules.
