Defying orders of the Admission Supervisory Committee, headed by Justice James, the Kerala Private Medical College Managements’ Association (KPMCMA) has made it clear that it will not conduct an entrance examination on June 22.
KPCMCA office-bearers are of the opinion that another examination need not be conducted as the test conducted on May 31 was cancelled by the committee without hearing their version. The entrance examination held by the KPCMCA, a consortium of eight self-financing private medical colleges, in Kozhikode on May 31 was cancelled on the basis that it was “not transparent”.
It was also announced that another examination, supervised by the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, would be held on June 22.
“The decision is to not conduct another exam on June 22. We have also not issued any intimation to anyone in this regard. The matter is pending before the court. The Admission Supervisory Committee took the decision unilaterally. The committee relied on media reports and never heard us,” KPMCMA office-bearer Dr Fazal Gafoor said.
He said they would deliberate on considering candidates from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) rank list if the court ask to do so.
“Our primary demand is to get the exam conducted on May 31 validated,” he said.
Cultural leaders and jurists have come up with protests, citing that a separate entrance test was not necessary as 46,000 students from Kerala had secured their place in the NEET rank list.
Justice Krishna Iyer had pointed out that it was unjust that the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations is conducting another entrance examination only to protect the interests of private medical managements at a time when students, who have cleared the national test, await their admission.