Private medical college moves Bombay HC seeking institute-level admissions: Report
Maharashtra: A Private Medical College has recently moved the Bombay High Court seeking an institute-level round of admissions, where medical colleges fill vacant MBBS seats on their own instead of centralised NEET counselling for the state quota seats.
According to a recent report by Careers360, the petitions have been filed by the Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), Palghar, the state's only medical college run by a corporate firm, which had litigated for the college-level admissions in Maharashtra last year.
In Maharashtra, counselling for MBBS admission after the NEET UG is conducted by the Maha CET Cell.
The college has challenged the state's decision to limit the eligibility of the NRI quota to only those with NRI certificates and their children, excluding other kin of NRIs from this provision. This change, brought through an amendment to the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015, followed a similar decision by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). While MCC soon reversed its decision to extend the reservation to other relations through a preferential system - first priority for immediate kin, second for the distant ones -- Maharashtra adhered to the revised system, adds the report.
Speaking to Career360, the counsel for VIMS said that “This situation has led to a disparity and discrimination, where sponsored NRI candidates [the students sponsored by their NRI relatives] can be admitted to deemed universities in the state [through central counselling], but they aren't eligible for private colleges. Except for Maharashtra, all the other states have followed MCC's guidelines”.
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As per the official notice issued by the MCC, the allotment of seats under the NRI category will be made based on a two-tier priority system-
i NRI candidates.
ii Children of NRIs.
2 PRIORITY 2-
i First-degree relatives of NRI wards.
ii Second-degree relatives of NRI wards.
Seat allocation will be carried out sequentially, giving preference to Priority 1 candidates first, followed by Priority 2, depending on seat availability.
