With no Govt Order, Allocated Medical Colleges refuse admission, Hardship Continues for GR Medicos
Bengaluru: There is still no respite for the 2022-2023 batch of MBBS students of Mangaluru's GR Medical College, whom the college admitted despite the National Medical Commission's (NMC) disapproval, as they are still unable to attend classes at the new medical institutes where they have been transferred.
Even though the Karnataka High Court recently upheld the government's decision to transfer those students to other medical colleges across the State, the institutes are reportedly saying that they have not received any government order to make the transfer of these students permanent, reports TOI.
Meanwhile, the Director of Medical Education Sujatha Rathod has assured that a government order would be issued very soon, adding that the DME has already sent an email to all the medical colleges with a copy of the high court order and has asked them to take the necessary action.
The controversy involving the GR Medical College started when students were admitted to 150 MBBS seats during the academic year 2022-2023. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that writing to the Health and Family Welfare Department, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC had 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. NMC issued the disapproval based on the assessment of the medical college by MARB on September 5 and September 6, 2022. However, despite the NMC disapproval, the college allegedly admitted students.
Addressing this issue, NMC had earlier informed the Health and Family Welfare Department, "However, the college illegally and arbitrarily admitted 150 MBBS students for 2022-23 without valid permission."
Last year, altogether 99 students of the medical college approached the Karnataka High Court and sought direction for the issuance of registration numbers to appear in the examination scheduled to commence on October 31, 2023. Further, they also sought to be transferred to any government medical college to be able to continue their studies. The petitioners stated that they were allotted seats in 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.
While considering the matter, the Karnataka HC bench had earlier asked the Director of Medical Education (DME) to temporarily transfer the 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 week. The bench had asked the authorities to ensure that 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.
Meanwhile, G.R. Medical College had also approached the HC bench and challenged the disapproval of renewal of permission for 150 1st year MBBS seats for the academic year 2022-2023. The college also challenged the transfer of 150 students to different Medical Colleges in the State.
Last month, the Karnataka HC bench dismissed the plea by G.R. Medical college and upheld the NMC's denial of renewal of permission for its 150 MBBS seats for the academic year 2022-2023.
Apart from upholding the NMC decision, the HC bench comprising Justices P S Dinesh Kumar and T G Shivashankare Gowda also allowed the government's decision to transfer those students to other medical colleges across the State of Karnataka.
"Admittedly, 150 students were admitted for 1ST year MBBS course for the academic year 2021-22. The permission for renewal has been disapproved by the NMC for the academic year 2022-23. This would place the career of the students enrolled in petitioner-College in jeopardy. Hence, no exception can be taken to the State Government’s action in re-locating the candidates in different colleges in the State to enable them to pursue their next academic year," the court mentioned in the order.
Even though the college challenged the order before the Supreme Court bench on January 25, there has not been any stay on the HC order.
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, despite the favourable order from the High Court, the problems seem to be never ending for these students as most of the students, who have been relocated to other medical institutes, are unable to attend classes. This is because the institutes are saying that they have not received any Government order to make their transfer permanent.
The Daily further adds that these students were reallocated to new colleges by the Karnataka Examinations Authority(KEA) through counselling. These students were transferred on a temporary basis to enable the students to appear for the exams. Accordingly, the students appeared in their first-year exams in the newly allocated colleges and the results were announced on December 26.
Despite clearing the exams, a large majority of students are unable to attend second-year classes in these colleges. Commenting on the situation, a parent told TOI, "We approached the director of medical education and colleges several times to accommodate the children based on the HC order. However, there has been no favourable move as yet."
Meanwhile, the Director of Medical Education Sujatha Rathod has assured that a government order will be assured soon. She mentioned, "We had sought a legal opinion, which has now come. We have already sent an email to all colleges with a copy of the high court order, asking them to take necessary action. They should allow the students to join classes immediately."
