GMCH Chandigarh revises Eligibility criteria for MBBS admissions

Chandigarh: Introducing a major change in the eligibility criteria for MBBS admission at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, the UT administration has removed all kinds of exemptions earlier offered to the wards of service defence personnel and ex-servicemen, under the 'UT pool' category.

Therefore, 85% of the total MBBS seats are now reserved for the UT pool, while in the Central pool there will be 15% of the total seats, the UT adviser Dharam Pal confirmed on Tuesday.

Earlier, there was a distinction between the wards of defense personnel/ex-servicemen and the local candidates of Chandigarh in terms of applying at GMCH-32. While the candidates belonging to the former category could apply from anywhere in India for Chandigarh, the latter were not allowed to apply in any other state/UT of India to be eligible for GMCH-32.

However, the UT administration has now modified the conditions after several pleas challenging the waiver of domicile to the wards of defense personnel were filed before the Punjab and Haryana Court.

Medical Dialogues had reported back in 2018 that the UT administration committee headed by Dr. BS Chavan, Director-Principal of GMCH-32 had issued guidelines for MBBS admission in the State quota seats at the medical college, which is the only institute in the UT offering MBBS admission.

The 150 MBBS seats at the medical college are distributed by contributing 15% of the seats to the All India Quota, whereas the rest of the 85% (115) seats remain for the UT pool. While the Central Government fills the seats belonging to the Central pool, it is the UT administration which decides admission process for the UT pool seats.

Also Read: MBBS students' Parents write to UT Health Secretary over GMCH Chandigarh domicile norms

In the guidelines, it was specified that MBBS candidates who have passed Class X, XI and XII from schools/colleges recognized by the Administration and situated in the UT, as a regular student, would be eligible for MBBS admission. Earlier, students, who had passed Class XII from schools/colleges in the UT were eligible.

Apart from this, the candidates whose parents are residents of the UT for the last five years before the date of application, become eligible for the admission, even if they do not meet the criteria mentioned above.

There is also a third criteria, as per which the wards of government employees in the city of central government/state government employees on deputation to Chandigarh become eligible for admission. In fact, the children of employees working in autonomous bodies/companies in which Chandigarh administration has 20% or more share, for the past three years before the date of application also become eligible for the admission.

However, the eligibility rules regarding the requirement of Chandigarh domicile were exempted for the wards of defense personnel/ex-servicemen, who could apply from anywhere in India for Chandigarh. Besides, there was no upper limit or capping on the number of seats that can be allotted.

It was claimed that the number of wards of defense personnel/ex-servicemen selected was indicated explicitly in previous years in the merit list but not in session 2021. Allegedly, there were around 22 such candidates who were selected from this criteria.

Meanwhile, last month, expressing concern over the eligibility criteria for Chandigarh domicile candidates for MBBS admission to GMCH-32, a group of parents had written a letter to Yashpal Garg, Union Territory Health Secretary pointing out the exemption of the rules provided towards the wards of serving defense personnel/ex-servicemen.

Several requests were made last year as well to water down the eligibility criteria in the State-quota MBBS seats in the GMCH Chandigarh , however, the UT Health Secretary Yashpal Garg had clarified that the norms would remain the same as notified back in 2018.

Now the UT Administration has modified the eligibility criteria and removed all the exemptions previously allotted to the wards of serving defense personnel/ex-servicemen.

As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, the new eligibility criteria requires that the parents of such candidates mention UT Chandigarh as the permanent address in their service record, at the time of entry into defense services.

For this, the permanent address certificate issued by the respective Competent Authority will be considered. However, the other three eligibility conditions for the wards of non-defense personnel have not been changed.

Now, the candidates belonging to all the four categories will be required to submit an undertaking/affidavit stating that they have not opted or claimed the benefit of residence in any other state/UT other than Chandigarh.

While commenting on the matter, UT health secretary Yashpal Garg informed the daily that such a decision has been taken by the UT administration after the UT adviser Dharampal examined the matter in a detailed manner and deliberated the same in a series of meetings.

Speaking to TOI regarding this, Dharam Pal said, "With the approval of the UT administrator, it was decided to revise the eligibility criteria for admission to MBBS course in GMCH against UT pool."

Referring to the last academic session, in which around 20 wards of defense personnel had secured admission at GMCH-32, Yashpal Garg mentioned, "Of the 20 students, four students were meeting one or the other of the three criteria. But, 16 got admissions in merit list, due to exemptions. These exemptions were increasing unnecessary competition for UT children as the defense wards were also eligible through Central pool but UT children do not get any other opportunity."

Also Read: New Eligibility Rules For Quota MBBS Admissions In Chandigarh Laid