Maha likely to scrap institutional round for medical admissions
Mumbai: Maharashtra may soon scrap the institutional round for private medical colleges, a move that could bring all MBBS and postgraduate medical admissions completely under the state's centralised counselling system.
The proposal has been put forward by the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell and has already received approval from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER). It is now awaiting the state government’s final nod before the upcoming admission session.
If implemented, all undergraduate and postgraduate medical admissions in Maharashtra would be conducted solely through the CET Cell's centralised admission process, leaving private colleges with little independent discretion in the final allocation of seats.
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Under the current system, students who remain without a seat after completion of the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) rounds become eligible for the institutional quota round conducted by private colleges.
The institutional round has remained a controversial part of Maharashtra’s admission process for years. Students, parents and medical education activists have repeatedly alleged that the system lacks transparency and gives colleges excessive control over final seat allotments.
At present, Maharashtra is reportedly the only state in the country that still allows such a round. In most other states, all medical admissions are conducted entirely through centralised counselling.
Commenting on this, a senior official told TOI, "Repeated concerns raised during earlier admission cycles led to discussions on whether the institutional round should continue at all."
Parent representative Shenoy said "The move would bring the state in line with directions issued earlier by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Two years ago, the National Medical Commission had ordered that all medical seats, undergraduate as well as postgraduate, should be filled through a centralised admission process. Maharashtra is the only state that continues with the institutional round," Shenoy said.
The institutional quota process has also repeatedly faced legal and regulatory complications. In 2023, Maharashtra conducted an offline institutional quota round, but students admitted through that process were not recognised by the NMC. The following year, the state chose not to hold the round, but a private medical college approached the court, following which an online institutional quota process was conducted.
"Every year, private colleges move court and obtain permission to conduct an institutional round. Critics argue that while colleges publish merit lists, the final allotments often deviate from merit considerations. The colleges eventually claim that higher-ranked candidates did not report, and seats are then effectively auctioned to those willing to pay the highest amounts despite lower merit," Shenoy said.
