By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, May 22: The Meghalaya High Court on Friday took up a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum, questioning the application of the State’s Job Reservation Policy for allocating quota seats in higher professional courses.
The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh, heard the matter. During the proceedings, Advocate General Amit Kumar raised questions over the maintainability of the PIL and sought time to file an affidavit-in-reply.
The court granted the request and directed the state to file the affidavit before the next date of hearing, with an advance copy to the petitioner’s counsel. The matter has been adjourned to June 5.
According to the PIL, the Meghalaya government receives state quota seats from the central pool for professional courses such as MBBS, engineering, paramedical, architecture, agriculture, and veterinary sciences in institutions outside the state.
The petition claims that while inviting applications, the authorities apply the State’s Job Reservation Policy to distribute these seats among Khasi-Jaintia, Garo, other indigenous tribes, and the unreserved category.
The petitioner contends that no separate reservation policy has been framed specifically for academic admissions. He argues that the categories and quantum of reservation currently being followed for educational seats are directly borrowed from the employment reservation policy.
The PIL further states that reservation is an exception to the constitutional principle of equality and cannot be implemented without proper legal backing, making the current practice illegal and unconstitutional.
