Bombay High Court Stays SC, ST, OBC Reservations

June 13, 2025: The Bombay High Court on Thursday put a stay on a Maharashtra government resolution issued on May 6, 2025, which mandated that minority educational institutions must reserve seats for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions.

Also Read: Calcutta High Court Orders Action Against Judicial Officers

A division bench comprising Justices M S Karnik and N R Borkar ruled that social reservation should not apply to any seat in minority educational institutions. The court ordered the Maharashtra government to update the FYJC admission portal accordingly and requested a formal response within four weeks. The next hearing is scheduled for August 6.

This stay comes following petitions filed by Solapur’s APD Jain Pathashala, which manages the Walchand College of Arts and Science and the Hirachand Nemchand College of Commerce in Mumbai, as well as a petition by the Maharashtra Association of Minority Educational Institutions (MAMEI). Senior advocate Milind Sathe represented the petitioners, arguing that under the Indian Constitution, minority educational institutions—whether aided or unaided—are exempt from implementing reservations for socially and educationally backward classes.

This is not the first time such a government resolution has been challenged. A similar resolution from 2019 was withdrawn after court intervention. The High Court, in its Wednesday hearing, questioned the recent resolution and suggested that any mistakes by the government could be corrected without judicial orders.

MAMEI highlighted that until recently, minority colleges followed a legally protected seat distribution system: 50% reserved for minority quota, 10% for in-house students, 5% for management quota, and 35% for other categories including sports and ex-servicemen quotas. The new government resolution alters this by imposing SC/ST and OBC reservations on the 35% open category seats, which the petitioners argue violates established legal protections and court rulings.

During the hearing, government pleader Neha Bhide stated that she had no instructions to amend the resolution and defended the policy, noting that social reservation would only apply if seats remained unfilled and surrendered.

The case continues to unfold as the Maharashtra government prepares its response, with significant implications for minority educational institutions and reservation policies in the state.