Institute Level Counselling NOT ALLOWED: NMC Cancels 141 MBBS Admissions done at private medical colleges in Maharashtra
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New Delhi: Taking action against violation of prescribed admission procedure, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced the cancellation of 141 stray-vacancy-round MBBS admissions in private medical colleges in Maharashtra.
The Apex Medical Body took this decision as the counselling for admission to these seats was conducted at the institute level through email communication violating the directions issued by NMC.
Issuing an order, the Commission on Thursday condemned the State Government's decision to allow Institute-level admission and clarified that the notice issued by the State CET cell on September 26 to fill up the vacant seats was issued in clear violation of the NMC directive, adds TOI.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that with an aim to put an end to the issue of seat blocking in medical colleges, NMC had clarified that the counselling agencies in the State and the Centre will fill up the seats in all the medical institutes through online counselling.
Clarifying that the mode of counselling will be online even for the stray vacany round in Private Medical Colleges from this academic year, the NMC PG Board had further mentioned that no college/institute should conduct the counselling, including the stray vacancy round, in physical mode.
In fact, referring to a Supreme Court order issued in this regard last year, NMC issued a circular to the Principal Secretary of Health of all States/UTs and the Director of Directorate of Medical Education of all States/UTs/Medical Counselling Authority and mentioned, "As per the Orders of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in I.A. No. 132614/2022 in WP(C) 267/2017, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) of DGHS, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare shall conduct Online Counselling for stray vacancy round for 100% seats in Deemed Universities in UG & PG courses."
"All the State Counselling Agencies are requested to make necessary arrangement for conducting the counselling in online mode, for all rounds including stray vacancy round in Private Medical Colleges, from the academic year 2023-24. No College/Institute should conduct the counselling, including the stray vacancy round, in physical mode," further stated the NMC circular.
Despite such a direction issued by the Apex Medical Regulator, the Maharashtra State CET Cell on September 26, 2023, issued a notice to conduct the stray vacancy Round-2.
"The seats remaining vacant in Government/Govt. aided/Corporation Medical Colleges will be filled by Online Stray Vacancy round(s) as per the schedule given in Table 1, Whereas the seat remaining vacant in Private unaided Medical Colleges will be filled at Institute level as per the schedule given in Table 2," the CET cell mentioned in the notice.
Previously, issuing a notice on September 18, 2023, the CET Cell had announced its decision of conducting Online Stray Vacancy Round(s) to fill the seats remain vacant after round - 3. However, this was later cancelled and in the notice dated 26.09.2023, the CET cell mentioned, "In view of the above referred letter from Medical Education and Drugs Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai. The Online Stray Vacancy Round -2 declared as per the Notice No.09 dated 18/09/2023 stands Cancelled."
Announcing its decision to hold an institute-level stray vacancy round, the CET Cell had directed the eligible desirous candidates to apply via Online mode i.e. through email only to the respective colleges in the prescribed format separately for State Quota and Institutional Quota. Along with the notice, the official email IDs of the concerned colleges were also included.
Referring to the stray vacancy round conducted in the private medical colleges at the institute-level, NMC mentioned that the counselling was conducted in "clear violation" of the Commission's directive in July disallowing institute-level MBBS admissions. Therefore, the Commission clarified that the admissions granted in such a manner will be considered invalid, adds the Times of India.
As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, in this regard, NMC's official notification dated October 18 mentioned, “It is informed that the notice issued by the CET cell has been found to be issued in clear violation of the NMC’s earlier notice.”
Due to this, the admission of 141 students who were admitted in this round now stands invalid. TOI adds that many of these students have already started attending classes.
Meanwhile, the parents and representatives have blamed the CET Cell and are now demanding answers from the authorities. Commenting on the matter, Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative questioned, "The CET Cell is at fault here. The NMC had clearly stated the rules for conducting online admissions until the last day; why did the state not adhere to them?"
She also suggested that the unfilled institute quota seats could have been converted into general seats and allocated to deserving candidates. Referring to the situation, she questioned why the CET Cell altered the rules only for MBBS admissions when the online admission rules were followed for BDS and PG Medical admissions.
Speaking to HT, another concerned parent stated, “Despite the NMC’s order and the concerns raised by parents, students are now suffering due to the CET cell’s mistakes.”
The concerned parent also demanded resignation of all the concerned bureaucrats including the Commissioner of the CET Cell. "We are not only losing our money but students are losing an entire year. How can an officer be so irresponsible when it comes to a student’s future? We followed all the rules provided by the authorities, so why should we be the ones to suffer? The government must intervene in this matter and provide relief to us," added another parent.
Meanwhile, addressing the situation, an officer from the CET Cell responded by saying, “We will seek guidance from the government and make further decisions.”
Commenting on the matter, an officer from the State Medical Education Department added, "Some students have already filed a petition in the Bombay high court against the stray-vacancy-round process run by the CET cell, so the matter is sub-judice."
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