The court is likely to pass an order in the case on Monday. After the state’s arguments concluded on Thursday, the court heard the SSC board and the interveners on Friday.

A division Bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S C Dharmadhikari sought details of aided and unaided junior colleges after the petitioner’s counsel Navroz Seervai submitted that the state government had no business to thrust their scheme on private colleges. Seervai pointed out that the Supreme Court judgments, which the state had cited, was related to government colleges and not private.

Upon this, the judges asked the government to compile a list of aided and unaided colleges by taking 20 preferential colleges and state whether they are government, private, aided or minority colleges.

Counsel Y S Jahgir Dar, who appeared for the Parents Teachers Association United Forum, pointed out in the court that the majority judgment in the percentile case was not a ruling but an opinion as one of the judges had deferred his point of view with the other two judges. However, considering the delay such a technical glitch might cause, the matter was not pressed for arguments.

Seervai, while concluding his arguments, said that the government policy is not sacrosanct from judicial scrutiny. “If the government is funding the colleges they have the right. If the policy is arbitrary or unreasonable, it cannot escape scrutiny of court for fundamental rights,” Seervai said.

The state has justified its decision on the grounds that they are not compromising on merit while reserving 90% seats for SSC board students. State clarified that this quota will not effect the already existing reservation made for minorities.

The court is currently hearing a bunch of petition filed by parents, students and associations challenging the state resolution of June 18, wherein 90 per cent reservation was made in junior colleges for SSC board students, leaving only 10 per cent seats for the students of other boards.