PUDUCHERRY: Observing that due procedure was not followed in admission process as per the Supreme Court order, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has ordered the dischargement of 770 students those who are admitted into seven self financing and deemed medical colleges in Puducherry under the Management quota in 2016-17.
“All the seven private medical colleges have not demonstrated any evidence of fairness and transparency in the admission process,” the MCI said in a letter to the Puducherry government dated September 7.
MCI Joint Secretary Dr Rajendra Wabale in his letter, directed the Secretary Health and Director of Health, to discharge all these students who have not been admitted through CENTAC, the centralised admissions committee of the government and those admitted after the last date of admission that is September 30, 2016. He further stated that the compliance report should be submitted within two weeks from the date of dispatch of the letter, failing which necessary action would be taken.
Pointing out the inadequacies, the MCI stated that the admissions to private medical colleges are to be made through CENTAC. But the colleges only allotted limited number of seats for CENTAC students and filled up the rest (management quota) on the basis of NEET. Out of 1,050 seats in the seven private medical colleges, only 280 were filled through CENTAC. The colleges also have not demonstrated any evidence of transparency and fairness in the admission process as no combined merit list of NEET qualified students were made. The direction of the SC to maintain transparency and fairness in the admission process has been totally and blatantly disregarded.
The directions of MCI was based on the complaint received from the president of the Puducherry UT All Centac Students Parents Association regarding illegal admission for the year 2016-17. The Monitoring Sub- Committee after going through the letter from Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi dated July 12, 2017 and the report of Justice Chitra Venkataraman who was the Chairperson of Permanent Admission Committee of Government of Puducherry, observed that there was no exemption from NEET for any non-government medical colleges for the academic year 2016-17 and admissions were to be made through common counseling conducted by designated authorities of the government (CENTAC).
The Executive committee approved the recommendations of MSC and directed authorities to discharge students not admitted through Centac and also those admitted after the last date.