The merit seat issue in the self- financing medical colleges in the state will again run into rough weather with the Supreme Court directing the Kerala Private Medical College Management Association to conduct entrance examinations on their own.
The Supreme Court had given the directive to conduct the examination, but the managements do not have the liberty to announce the results.
The Union Government has insisted that a national common entrance test should be conducted for admission to all the medical colleges in the country, including self-financing medical colleges. This was challenged at the Supreme Court and it was now directed by the SC to conduct the examinations by each state.
The Association has started the preparation to conduct the entrance examination. Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb told ‘Express’ that Kerala was against the decision to conduct a common entrance test. This will result in students not being able to appear for various other entrance examinations, which will provide various options to get admissions.
“Following the Supreme Court order, the State Government will explore the possibilities of conducting a State-level examination this year too. The tension of students appearing only for one examination could be eased with the opportunity to write examination at the national-level, state-level and self financing colleges”, he said.
The opinion of the State Government has already been notified to the Union Government. A decision on weather to conduct an entrance examination or not will be taken at the earliest, so that the students could also prepare for this test, he added.
Association secretary Anil Kumar said that following the Supreme Court order, entrance examination will be conducted as per the guidelines of the Justice P A Mohammed Admission Advisory Committee. The admission process will start only after the final court directive.
“A decision on admission of students in merit quota in self-financing colleges will be taken only after discussion with the State Government. The managements of private medical colleges will demand higher fee than that collected by the government medical colleges for merit seats,” Anil Kumar said.
If the government do not agree with the conditions of the managements, the merit quota will be filled from the entrance examination conducted by the Association, after the final verdict of the Supreme Court.
The procedures for conducting entrance test by the Association will strictly comply with the recommendations of Justice P A Mohammed Committee, he added.