Even after a fourth and final allotment which was aimed at rectifying anomalies in the ayurveda undergraduate course admission process, the issue is back to square one.
Many merit seats in self-financing colleges have finally landed in the kitty of the managements thanks to a controversial agreement on seat sharing that they entered into with the government.
According to information accessed by ‘Express’, as many as 71 merit seats in 11 self-financing ayurveda colleges have lapsed after the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) made the fourth and final allotment on October 18.
This means that instead of charging an annual tuition fee of Rs 12,000 prescribed for merit seats, managements are now free to charge `50,000 for these seats.
“The clear picture on the merit seats in self-financing colleges will emerge only after we consolidate the final figures furnished by the colleges. However, government quota seats in these colleges have lapsed after the fourth and final allotment,” Joint Commissioner for Entrance Examinations S Santosh told ‘Express’.
In a series of reports, ‘Express’ had pointed out the anomalies in admission to ayurveda UG courses. These included limiting the number of allotments to three and empowering the private managements to take over those merit seats which fell vacant after the final allotment.
After the anomalies were brought to the fore, the Admission Supervisory Committee chaired by Justice J M James, intervened and ordered a fourth and final allotment to fill ayurveda merit seats.
However, the managements were still empowered to take over vacant merit seats after the allotment process. Later, a Government Order issued on October 11 was silent on conducting spot admissions to fill vacant merit seats in self-financing colleges after the fourth allotment. “The Admission Supervisory Committee and the government should have ideally insisted on two new allotments and spot admissions to fill vacant merit seats. By not doing so, they have virtually handed over merit seats on a platter to the managements,” said All-India Save Education Committee state convenor M Shajar Khan said. However, the association of self-financing ayurveda colleges has said that many merit seats that have landed in their share would have to be forfeited.
“Many of our member colleges have admitted up to 60 students as against 50 stipulated by the Central Council of Indian Medicine. The number of seats have to be re-adjusted to meet the norms,” Kerala State Indian Systems of Medicine Self-financing College Managements Association (KISMA) secretary M Muraleedharan said.