MUMBAI, July 22: The student petitioners who failed to get a stay from the Bombay High Court on the admission process for first-year MBBS/BDS courses for 1997-98 have filed a special leave petition in Supreme Court on Monday seeking interim relief.

The case will be heard by the Chief Justice on Wednesday, said advocate Mukesh Vashi, appearing for the petitioners.

The petition filed by two Mumbai students challenged the validity of the new MBBS/BDS admission rules advocating region-wise distribution of seats as against admission on the basis of the university area had been admitted by the division bench of Justice A Agarwal and Justice S D Gundewar of the High Court earlier. Around a hundred worried parents of students, who have passed HSC from Mumbai and are keen on getting admitted to medical colleges here, have formed a group called Forum for Medical Admissions and are taking up the cause against the new rules which has split the state into three regions - Marathwada, Vidharbha and rest of Maharashtra.

The petitioners state that the rules for admission to the medical-dental course was framed by the Maharashtra government following the directives issued by the Governor. They pointed out that the directives pertained to other courses including engineering, architecture and polytechnic.

However, the distribution of seats on the basis of the area of development boards is being done for medical-dental courses only.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.