On December 1, the Bombay High Court division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Abhay Ahuja barred the Maharashtra Public Services Commission (MPSC) from issuing appointment letters for engineers under the reserved Economically Weaker Section Category (EWS) until the issue of diverting SEBC candidates to EWS was resolved. The bench also stated that a petition challenging the MPSC's decision to consider candidates from the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) for EWS posts after the SEBC Act was struck down by the Supreme Court is awaiting a final hearing.

The High Court said that "Although we normally refrain from interfering with the business of the Tribunal to decide pleas pending before it, having regard to the importance of the present issue, we would encourage the Tribunal to make an earnest endeavor to proceed with the hearing of the original application without granting any unnecessary adjournment to any party so that the final decision can be pronounced by it by the end of January 2023."

The original applicants approached the High Court with the expectation that the final arguments would begin before MAT. The MAT, however, refused to postpone the appointments until the case was finally heard. The High Court noted that MAT's order dated November 29, 2022, failed to take into account that a coordinate Bench of the High Court had set aside a similar decision by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) allowing SEBC candidates to be appointed on posts reserved for EWS candidates on July 29, 2022.

Case Title: Amarnath Madhukar Havshett versus Maharashtra Public Service Commission and Ors.
Citation: Writ Petition No. 14772 OF 2022