- (1.) The entitlement of the petitioners to an appropriate interim order is the precise question that is being dealt with by the Court by the present order.
(2.) By the 103rd Constitutional amendment, after clause (5) of Article 16, the following clause numbered as clause (6) has been inserted:- "(6) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clause (4), in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of ten per cent of the posts in each category."
(3.) Though an enabling provision, the State of Maharashtra by notifications dated 12.2.2019 and 7.3.2019 has extended the benefit of reservation to the extent of 10% to economically weaker sections, inter alia, in postgraduate medical courses. The bone of contention between the parties is whether the aforesaid decision following the Constitutional amendment will apply to the ongoing admission process which had commenced in the month of November, 2018 i.e. well before the coming into force of the Constitutional amendment (January, 2019) and the notifications of February and March, 2019.;