Mumbai: Starting from November 26, online admissions to first-year junior college (FYJC) in Maharashtra will resume after being stalled for more than two months, the state school education department announced on Wednesday. The process had to be suspended midway but will now proceed without the 12 per cent seat reservation for the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) or the Maratha quota.
Late on November 24, 2020, the state released a government resolution (GR) saying, "All admissions for the current academic year will be done without the 12 per cent SEBC quota. Students who have applied for admissions under SEBC quota post September 9 and have not been admitted will now be considered under open category. However, admissions completed before the SC order of the interim stay dated September 9, 2020 will not be affected."
Students from the SEBC category already admitted before September 9, 2020, will be admitted in the open category during the process. This is because the Maratha quota petition is still pending in the apex court.
The government has further clarified that these admissions will be subject to the outcome of a petition filed by the state government to vacate the interim stay on the Maratha reservation.
Following this, on Wednesday, the state school education department released the FYJC online admission schedule on https://11thadmission.org.in/. Varsha Gaikwad, school education minister of Maharashtra, said, "Following the interim stay order issued by the Supreme Court on the issue of SEBC reservation and following the instructions given by the government, the Standard 11 admission process for the academic year 2020-21 will be started on November 26, 2020. The second merit round will be completed in the next two weeks."
On November 26, the vacancy list will be displayed. Between November 26 and December 1, there will be provision made for students to select a new category, other than SEBC and the submission of applications for management and minority quota. There will be additional time given for verification and up-dation of choice of form/option form on December 2, time reserved for result processing and audit of the college allocation list on December 3 and 4.
The second merit list for FYJC admissions will be declared at 11am on December 5. Students who have applied under the Maratha quota can change their category and all students have until December 1 to change their college preferences. New students can also submit Parts 1 and 2 of the application form. Those allotted seats in the second merit round can secure admissions in respective junior colleges from 11am on December 5 till 5 pm on December 9, 2020. The following day, colleges will display the vacancy list for the third regular admission round, including management seats surrendered by colleges.
The FYJC online admission process was halted since September 9, 2020, following the SC interim stay on reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for candidates belonging to the Maratha community in Maharashtra. The second merit list, which was supposed to be declared on September 10, was not announced. Students were left in the lurch as over 2.75 lakh had registered online for FYJC admissions, for 3.20 lakh seats in 844 colleges in the Mumbai region this year.
As on date of the total intake capacity of 18, 51, 990 across Maharashtra, 17, 18, 488 had applied, of whom 11, 51, 985 have been admitted. They had also paid the necessary fees. However, after the discontinuation of admission process after the apex court order staying the Maratha quota, 5,66,503 students (of the total 17,18,488 applying online) had yet to get the admission. There are 7 lakh vacancies across the state.
