TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: Almost a year after the Bombay High Court at Goa struck down 41 per cent reservation in the State quota of postgraduate seats in the Goa Medical and Goa Dental Colleges, the State government has now constituted a four-member committee to recommend whether reservation is required.
In a notification issued in May 2020, the Goa government sought to implement reservations to the postgraduate courses at the Goa Medical College (GMC) to the extent of 41 per cent in favour of STs (12%), SCs (2%) and OBCs (27%) from 2021-2022 academic year. However, the same was challenged before the High Court by group of more than 100 doctors and medical students.
Under Secretary Health Trupti Manerkar through a notification has constituted committee under Secretary Health to study and consider the views of all the stakeholders and make recommendations.
The panel has to recommend to the Govt as to whether reservation is at all required at the PG level in GMC and to what extent such reservation is required to be provided.
Manerkar said that the committee is being put in place in view of the High Court observations in the matter of reservation.
The other members of the committee include Chairman of OBC Corporation, Dean of GMC and President of Goa Medical Council.
In its judgment, passed on October 11, 2021, the High Court had said that the government’s decision, was contrary to principles laid down by previous Supreme Court judgments, taken in haste without application of mind and violative of the government’s own rules for admission to post graduate courses which specifically mention that admission to post graduate courses was to be strictly on merit except for a relaxation in marks afforded to those belonging to disadvantaged backgrounds.
The government argued that it was in tune with its orders of 2007, when it introduced a 12 per cent reservation for STs in all government-run and aided educational institutions and a similar sounding notification in the year 2014, when it enhanced an already existing reservation for the OBCs from 19.5% to 27%.
