Shillong,July 7: The High Court of Meghalaya has allowed Adelbert Nongrum MLA (VPP) to withdraw the PIL regarding seats in higher education as per central quota.
The North Shillong legislator was challenging the state’s reservation policy.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice W Diengdoh disposed of PIL as withdrawn, granting liberty to the petitioner to either file a representation before the appropriate authority or file a fresh petition in accordance with the rules.
During the hearing. Advocate General Amit Kumar submitted that the PIL filed by the petitioner is not in accordance with the PIL Rules, which are mandatory.”
Following this, the counsel for the petitioner P Yobin sought permission to withdraw the matter.
“We seek leave to withdraw the petition with liberty to file a representation before the appropriate authority, as may be necessary, or to file a fresh petition strictly in accordance with the PIL Rules,” the counsel submitted.
The court accepted it and disposed of the petition accordingly.
The PIL questioned ss to how the state government allocates the central pool quota seats for professional courses including MBBS, engineering, and agriculture.
As per the petition, the state invites applications for these seats but distributes them by applying the Meghalaya Job Reservation Policy.
“The categories of reservation, and the quantum of reservation, for selecting candidates to state quota seats in higher academic courses is taken mutatis mutandis from the job reservation policy of the state. There is no separate reservation policy for academic purposes,” the PIL said.
According to Nongrum, using a job reservation policy for academic admissions without a specific law was unconstitutional.
