SC/ST/OBC quota on open seats: minority colleges in Maharashtra allege quota breach

Minority communities that run junior colleges in Maharashtra, which are said to be in confusion after the state government applied SC/ST/OBC reservations on the open/general seats that were previously open to all in the First Year Junior College (FYJC) admission process, are looking for ways to challenge the decision legally.

Traditionally, minority institutions reserve 50 per cent of their seats for students from the specific minority community running the institution, while 5 per cent is allotted for the management quota and the remaining 45 per cent is kept open to students from any category, irrespective of caste or religion. However, this year, the FYJC admission portal has begun applying constitutional reservations on the 45 per cent open seats, significantly reducing the number of seats available to open category students, The Indian Express reported.

Minority colleges, who argue that the Supreme Court has previously ruled against the imposition of such reservations in minority institutions, as doing so would push the total reserved seats beyond 80 per cent, which they say is constitutionally impermissible.

Colleges have expressed concern that they were not informed about the change in admission rules beforehand and have accused the government of arbitrarily altering the admission policy without consultation or proper notification, noting that they only discovered the change while accessing the updated admission portal.

Although government officials have pointed to a Government Resolution (GR) issued on May 6 as the basis for the new policy, colleges argue that the GR pertains only to the redistribution of vacant seats under the minority quota after three rounds of admission and does not authorise the blanket application of SC/ST/OBC reservations on the 45 per cent open seats.

The government has also cited a 2013 decision by its minority department which stated that after fulfilling the 50 per cent minority quota, the remaining 50 per cent seats for non-minority candidates should include reservations for SC/ST/OBC groups as per the state education policy; yet, colleges have responded that this guideline had never been enforced in this manner before and that the sudden implementation has come without any accompanying documentation or discussion.

Government sources have argued that the objective behind a centralised admission process is to maintain a uniform policy across all colleges, implying that reservations on open seats in minority institutions are consistent with that goal. However, college administrators contend that implied policy changes cannot substitute for explicit guidelines and that policy implementation should follow due process and communication.

With no official circulars or notifications issued on the matter beyond the ambiguous sentence in the May 6 GR, legal experts say that affected minority colleges have the option to approach the High Court to challenge the decision on grounds of arbitrariness and lack of procedural consultation, and they may seek judicial clarification on whether the current reservation policy violates constitutional protections afforded to minority-run institutions.