The Bombay HC has stayed the implementation of a circular released by Maharashtra CET on March 16, 2020. The circular invalidated MAT, ATMA, XAT, and GMAT exams for MMS/MBA admission in state institutions.
According to the circular, only the MAH CET score would be accepted by the state management institutions. However, the court order gave relief to students who stopped the implementation of the Maharashtra CET issued order.
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The order was given by a 2 judge bench of Justice GS Kulkarni and Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta. The judges said that the state should be reasonable in issues of education. As such, they should not take any decision that would affect the candidates.
The bench opinionated that if the authorities wanted to change the eligibility criteria then they should have informed the students well in advance. Three students have filed a petition against the decision on grounds of the right to equality.
The court said that students of XAT, GMAT, MAT, and ATMA should be considered for this academic session. In the order, they also said that the new eligibility criteria can be applied from the next session.
After the court order, the Maharashtra CET posted a notification on its website, “With reference to Judgement of THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION (St) No.96887 OF 2020 on dated 11/12/2020. Process for MBA application will resume back later by adding ATMA, MAT, XAT for admission process year 20-21, after getting permission from Maharashtra Government. Accordingly, a separate notification will be published on the CET website”
The 3 students who had filed the petition had given the ATMA exam this year. They argued that they gave the exam under the assumption that their score would be accepted. However, the sudden change in eligibility left them no choice but to approach the court.
