Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to reimburse the fees paid by four medical students who were denied the benefit of a one-time scheme introduced in 2019 for general-category students who had to take admission in private medical colleges after losing out on government seats because of the introduction of the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Socially and Educationally (or Economically) Backward Classes (SEBC) quotas in education.Criticising the state government, the court said, “We are shocked to see serious incongruity in admitting students in government and aided medical colleges.” (HT Photo)Criticising the state government for its “pick and choose” approach in implementing a beneficial scheme, the court said, “We are shocked to see serious incongruity in admitting students in government and aided medical colleges.”The four students had moved the Aurangabad bench of the high court via two separate petitions in 2020 and 2021, after missing out on admission to government medical colleges following the introduction of education quotas in the 2019-2020 academic year. Their petitions claimed they weren’t given the benefit of a one-time scheme under which the state government was to reimburse the fee difference between government and private colleges.The petitioners contended that they were eligible for admission to government medical colleges in the general category. However, due to admissions granted to students under the EWS and SEBC quotas, they had to opt for private medical colleges and pay higher fees, they said. They added that some of them had to take education loans to pay private medical college fees.The state medical education department argued that the petitioners would not have qualified for government colleges even without the newly introduced quota seats. However, the petitioners told the court that at least 16 of the 106 students deemed eligible for the reimbursement benefit had secured lower NEET ranks than they had.“Obviously, if the students standing at a lower position on merit were offered the benefit of the scheme, the petitioner too was entitled for such benefit,” a division bench of justices Kishore Sant and Ajit Kadethankar observed in its judgment of August 3.The court also described the admission process as “suspicious and non-transparent”. It noted that of the 106 students who received fee reimbursement, 24 were from Vidarbha and 82 from the rest of Maharashtra, while none were from Marathwada.“We do agree that this is not a case of regionalism, but the authorities must look into it seriously and meticulously…,” the court said.The judges said government medical colleges continue to command considerable public trust and prestige. “In our society, we still believe and trust that if we get admission in government colleges for professional courses, we have proven our mettle,” they said.They added that when a successful finisher in this race is not recognised as one even after crossing the finish line, “it deeply and adversely affects not only the career but the temperament of such a finisher”.The court said it was the government’s foremost duty to sow trust deep in citizens’ minds. “The conduct of the executives in the cases like in hand, unfortunately, extirpates such trust despite novel and benevolent objects framed by the government,” it said.The bench directed the four students to submit their fee reimbursement claims to the government within four weeks. It directed the Director of Medical Education and Research to process and release the reimbursements within eight weeks.