Mumbai: In a move that may change equations for FYJC aspirants, the state has added provisions on the govt-run admissions portal for introducing SC/ST/OBC quotas in minority institutions. The state says it had notified the decision through a GR last month, reports Yogita Rao.With 50% of seats already reserved for religious and linguistic minorities, the move implies quotas of up to 86%, reducing open seats to 12-14% of intake as there’s also management quota. A principal of a top college said the govt decision can be legally challenged.A school department official said the govt is not touching minority quota seats; social reservations would only help students from backward classes secure seats in leading colleges, he said.A 2018 HC order had said minority institutions need not reserve seats for backward class students. While govt moved SC against the order, it failed to get relief. Multiple court orders have said institutions run by linguistic and religious minorities are not obligated to implement quotas for SC/STs/OBCs. The Maharashtra govt’s move to introduce SC/ST/OBC quotas in minority educational institutions may curtail the management quota of 5% by half. Earlier the quota applied to the total intake. Now, the govt says only 5% of non-minority seats in these institutions will be under management control.While school education department officials have claimed that the changes have been notified by the govt, colleges said they have only taken note of these changes now after their seat matrix has been put up on the govt-run portal for FYJC.A govt official said the reservations in non-minority seats in minority institutions was notified last month in a govt resolution. “There is no ambiguity in the rule. We are not touching the minority quota at all. The reservations have been applied to the remaining non-minority seats as per earlier govt resolutions too and as per the recommendation of the state’s minority department. In fact, a lot of minority institutions anyway surrender their seats to the general pool as they do not get sufficient students. Students need not worry at all, there are overall 24 lakh FYJC seats in the state, and 21 lakh of these are available in the centralised admission process. Last year’s HSC data show that only 13.5 lakh students took the board exams. There are plenty of seats for everyone,” said the official. Admissions have moved online for the first time across the state this year, earlier it was done only in five urban regions.A principal, however, said that the govt decision could lead to chaos and the move could be challenged in court. “Minority institutions are not obligated to follow social reservations. And the govt is imposing the rule without moving a policy document. First, we thought it could be an error in the online admission portal as every day we are hearing of some technical problem with the portal. But the seat matrix has not changed for several days,” said the principal.Another principal pointed out that in Mumbai, the race to get a seat in top-rung colleges is highly competitive, and most of these colleges are run by minority organisations, including Christian, Gujarati or Sindhi minorities. “Since the open category seats will go down with these reservations, the cut-offs could be higher,” he said.Courts have upheld a cap of 50% on reservations in education and employment.