150 MBBS students of GR Medical College Re-allotted to other colleges following HC Direction

Bengaluru: Bringing relief to 150 first-year MBBS students of GR Medical College, Mangaluru, whose admissions during the academic year 2022-2023 were declared to be illegal by the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has now re-allotted these students to other medical colleges in the State.

This comes after the Karnataka High Court issued an interim order and asked the Director of Medical Education (DME) to complete the process of redistribution of seats for these students within October 3, 2023, and place the same before the Court, by way of an affidavit.

"The DME's affidavit shall detail the names of the students, the quota under which he/she shall be admitted, the college to which the students are temporarily transferred for the purpose of the impending examination," the order issued by the HC Division bench comprising Justices G Narendar and Vijayakumar A Patil.

TOI adds that the Ed of KEA, S Ramya earlier informed that the seat matrix on re-allotment had been published on the KEA website and the students had been asked to present themselves at the KEA office in Malleswaram, Bengaluru, at 11 am on Saturday. They had further been directed to bring the hall tickets issued by the KEA in 2022-2023 along with them. Further, the students were also asked to bring the admission documents to GR Medical College, photo ID cards, and related documents.

As per the data available on the KEA website, these 150 MBBS students have now been re-allotted by KEA to 23 other medical institutes across the State. Among these 150 MBBS students, altogether 37 students have been allotted under General Quota seats, 83 students have been re-allotted under private seats, 22 students have been allotted under the NRI quota and 8 students have been allotted under other categories.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that writing to the Health and Family Welfare Department, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC informed that the college was granted permission for the establishment in 2021-2022 with an annual intake of 150 MBBS seats. However, the Commission reportedly disapproved the proposal seeking permission for a second batch during the academic year 2022-2023.

Also Read: Illegal MBBS admissions: HC notice to Govt, NMC, KEA, GR medical college, RGUHS after students seek transfer, permission to appear in exams

As per the communication from NMC, the disapproval was issued on the basis of the assessment of the college by MARB on September 5 and September 6, 2022. However, despite the NMC disapproval, the college allegedly admitted students.

Referring to this, NMC mentioned in the letter, "However, the college illegally and arbitrarily admitted 150 MBBS students for 2022-23 without valid permission."

Recently, altogether 99 students of the medical college approached the Karnataka High Court and filed a plea. They sought direction for the issuance of registration numbers to appear in the examination scheduled to commence on October 31, 2023. Further, they also sought transfer to any government medical college to be able to continue their studies.

The petitioners stated that they were allotted seats in the second mop-up round for the academic year 2022-2023 and since GR Medical College was in the seat matrix, they believed that the college had all the required approvals from the NMC.

As per the latest media report by the New Indian Express, while considering the matter, the Karnataka HC bench recently directed the Director of Medical Education (DME) to temporarily transfer first-year MBBS students of the medical college to other private medical colleges in the State to help them appear for the examination that is scheduled to be held next month.

The bench passed the interim order while clarifying that the interim order is subject to the final orders on the petitions filed by the concerned medical college. 

According to the directions issued by the HC bench, the process of redistribution of students should be completed by October 03, 2023. Further, the bench observed that it was apparent that a serious error was committed in permitting the admission of the petitioners to the college which lacked the required permission at that time to continue with the admission.

The Daily adds that the Advocate General submitted to the Court that since the petitioners were admitted to a private college and since the fee structure in government and private colleges varies, the concerned students have to be accommodated as per the quota under which they were granted admission and that too, in private institutes. Therefore, the Advocate General submitted that the authorities required some time to transfer the students to 24 private medical colleges and file an affidavit.

On the other hand, the counsel for NMC submitted that the Commission has already issued a communication to the State Government and allowed the transfer of the students. Following this, the counsel representing the Rajiv University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) was directed by the Court to file an affidavit placing on record the steps that the University would take after the re-distribuition of students and the schedule within which the same shall be completed.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the Union Government informed the Court that the appeal filed by the institute was rejected as it was filed beyond the stipulated time period. Therefore, the Court observed that the concerned aspects regarding the permission and right of admission of the college would be considered separately.

Times of India adds that following the High Court's direction, the KEA on Saturday held counseling for 150 first-year MBBS students of the medical college who were admitted during the academic year 2022-2023. The counseling was held for re-allotment of their seats in other medical colleges. 

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that amidst the confusion regarding the future of these students, recent media reports suggested that the college had been granted NMC renewal permission for its second batch (2022-2023) of MBBS Course with 150 seats. However, soon, NMC issued a clarification and confirmed that the letter issued to the medical college in this regard was forged/fake.

Issuing a Public Notice in this regard, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC addressed the letter of renewal of permission and further mentioned, "It has come to the notice of Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of National Medical Commission (NMC) that a forged/fake letter dated 13.09.2023 has been issued to G R Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Karnataka towards renewal of permission for MBBS course for 2 nd Batch (1 st Renewal) for the AY 2022-23."

To view the KEA re-allotment of seats, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/kea-gr-medical-college-221538.pdf

Also Read: NMC warns against Fake Renewal Permission letter issued to GR Medical College for 2nd MBBS batch, details