THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The efforts to bring the Inter- Church Council back to the negotiating table to solve the selffinancing colleges admission issue received a setback with the fierce criticism unleashed by SFI leaders against the Inter- Church Council.
Education Minister M A Baby further aggravated the issue when he criticised the council for not cooperating with the Government in solving the issue.
The sudden change in attitude came after the Education Minister had himself brought forward a fresh proposal in the Assembly on Thursday to the self-financing professional colleges run by the Inter-Church Council.
The Inter-Church Council is also upset by the fact that nothing had happened even ten days after Baby had held discussions with the Church leaders.
As a result, the four medical colleges and 10 engineering colleges under the Inter-Church Council, which stayed away from the talks with the government, have commenced their admission process. The medical colleges under the council are expected to announce the ranklist for admissions on Monday.
The Council has made it clear that it was willing to come for talks only if there is a response from the part of the Government by 5 p.m. on Monday.
The Lourdes Matha College of Science and Technology, Kuttichal, under the Council, began admission process at the college on Saturday. The other nine engineering colleges under the council will start counselling for admissions on July 9.
The government had asked the council to set apart 20 per cent seats from the 50 per cent government seats for the minority communities which ran the college. This proposal meant that the government fees will now be applicable to only 30 percent seats in colleges run by Inter-Church Council.
Soon after the announcement, during a Secretariat march on Friday, SFI state secretary A.N. Shamsir alleged that people like Archbishop Mar Joseph Powathil were a curse of Kerala. He criticised the decision of Inter-Church Council not to have discussions with the Government on the self-financing colleges issue.
This statement was followed by the Education Minister’s statement on Saturday that the Inter- Church Council was changing goal-posts when the Government was going for a goal.
Malankara Catholic Church Major Archbishop Catholicos Baselios Mar Clemeis had condemned the remarks by the SFI against Archbishop Mar Joseph Powathil. “The tendency to attack respectable Church leaders like Powathil is very painful,’’ Clemeis said in a statement on Saturday.