Aspirants for post-graduate medical and dental seats and PG diploma courses for the academic year 2014-15 may be forced to opt for COMED-K (Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka).
The Department of Medical Education is yet to announce its counselling schedule. On its part, COMED-K is all set to go ahead with its schedule, which may start ahead of the counselling for government seats.
Normally, counselling for government seats is held before that of COMED-K. Those who fail to get seats under government quota take up COMED-K test and appear for counselling.
But this year, the Department of Medical Education has not yet announced its schedule as a case is pending in the Supreme Court. COMED-K had announced that counselling will be held between April 21 and 23.
The department has now decided to ask COMED-K authorities to postpone counselling by a few days. “We got to know about COMED-K counselling on Tuesday and we will discuss with the secretary about writing to COMED-K to put off their schedule,” said Dr SS Harsoor, Director (in-charge), Medial Education Department. According to an official in the department, the case has not been listed for Wednesday. “When the case is listed, we will get to know the previous day itself. But as per our information, the case is not listed for Wednesday,” he said.
This year, the government extended the rule on submitting domicile certificate (proof of having studied for 10 years in Karnataka) even to avail PG seats. Challenging this, some candidates filed a petition in the Supreme Court. “As we were directed by the Supreme Court not to proceed, we cannot fix the counselling dates. Once the verdict is out, we will announce the dates,” said Harsoor.
This year, the department plans to conduct online counselling and officials say they will need just about three days to complete the process. “We are expecting the case to be cleared in a couple of days. We will try to convince the COMED-K authorities in this regard,” Harsoor said. Though this will not affect candidates who have secured high ranks, those who are not sure of getting government seats are worried. “We cannot wait and our children will be forced to appear for COMED-K counselling and opt for seats paying higher fees,” said a parent.
COMED-K authorities say they cannot go against the Supreme Court directive. Speaking to Express, A S Srikanth, Chief Executive Officer, COMED-K, said there is no question of postponing the PG counselling. “The Medical Council of India has prepared a calendar of events as per the directions of the Supreme Court in the Madhu Singh case. We have to complete the process before April 25. If the government wants to overrule this, they can go ahead. We don’t have the power to do so,” he said.
Seats: 262 government and 356 private (tentative)
Seat-sharing: Government 33%, COMED-K 42% and rest left for managements
Fee structure (COMED-K) PG courses: Pre-clinical, Rs 62,700, Para-clinical, Rs 1,25,400, Clinical Rs 5,01,600
PG diploma courses: Para-clinical, Rs 1,25,400, Clinical, Rs 3,76,200, PG dental, Rs 2,57,400, PG diploma, Rs 2,57,400
What is the Issue?
Till 2013, the rule on submitting domicile certificate applied only to under-graduate professional courses. Fearing that state students will lose seats, the government extended the same rule to PG courses for the academic year 2014-15. Questioning this, some candidates approached the Supreme Court.