SRINAGAR: The fate of 50 MBBS students of the now derecognised Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College hangs in the balance after the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (JKBOPEE) informed the government that it cannot accommodate them elsewhere, citing procedural constraints.
The development comes days after the National Medical Commission (NMC) cancelled the Letter of Permission (LoP) granted to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) in Reasi district to run a 50-seat MBBS course, citing significant deficiencies in infrastructure and compliance. The NMC had directed that students admitted for the session be accommodated as supernumerary seats in other government medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir.
The decision followed controversy over the admission of 42 Muslim students and one Sikh in the first MBBS batch of 50, triggering protests by Hindu groups who argued that admissions should be restricted to Hindus, as the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, which runs the institution, is funded by offerings from Hindu devotees. About 60 groups later formed the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti (SMVDSS) to spearhead an agitation initially seeking cancellation of Muslim students’ admissions and later the closure of the medical college.
After the NMC derecognised the medical college, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had assured that the affected students would be adjusted in nearby government medical colleges. However, the closure of the national counselling process for the current academic session raised questions over whether such an adjustment was procedurally possible.
JKBOPEE on Wednesday informed the Health and Medical Education Department that it is constrained to conduct any new counselling for MBBS admissions for the academic session 2025–26, as it is not mandated to go beyond the counselling schedule notified by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The board said the issue of allocating MBBS students against supernumerary seats had been placed before it for detailed deliberations, but it could not go beyond the counselling schedule issued by the MCC for the current academic session.
JKBOPEE pointed out that, as per MCC directions, the data of 1,410 MBBS candidates — including the 50 students from SMVDIME — has already been uploaded on the MCC portal, with the last date for joining set as December 31, 2025. It added that the creation and allotment of supernumerary seats does not fall within its remit.
“The fresh allocation of supernumerary seats to the candidates, who were earlier allotted SMVDIME by JKBOPEE, be made at the Government level in consultation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the respective medical colleges in the Union Territory,” it said.
Reacting to JKBOPEE’s response, Peoples Conference chairman and MLA Sajjad Gani Lone said, “This is unbelievable. The heartlessness of the government in washing its hands off the 50 students of the ‘once upon a time’ Vaishno Devi medical college.”
“The government in its typical style has shifted the blame elsewhere. These students are now academically stranded and now at the mercy of God knows who,” Lone posted on X.
“‘Short of being dead, it is the final, unsurpassable stage of irresponsibility’ — wrote George Orwell. That is the bloody state of this government,” he added.