NEET: 3 Maharashtra institutes granted private university status, domicle share reduced to 40 percent seats
Mumbai: Only 40 percent of the institutional seats in three Maharashtra medical and dental colleges will be reserved for candidates holding a Maharashtra domicile certificate after the institutions obtain approval as private universities.
The three institutions are the Dr Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil Foundation’s Medical College in Ahilyanagar, the NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences in Nagpur and the Ranjeet Deshmukh Dental College and Research Centre in Nagpur. The state cabinet approved the conversion of the three into private universities on Monday.
While 40% of the institutional seats will be reserved for Maharashtra-domicile candidates, the remaining 60% will be available to candidates from outside the state, reportedly reducing the number of seats available to Maharashtra students at the three institutions.
On this, medical students and parents have claimed that the conversion of these private medical and dental colleges into universities will result in a loss of over 350 seats for Maharashtra aspirants.
As a result, they are upset and concerned over the conversion and said that the government could have taken the decision earlier or waited until next year. They said the last-minute move has left students confused about the admission process, the fee structure and whether the same fees will apply to both Maharashtra and all-India candidates.
A circular put out by the state’s Common Entrance Test (CET) cell on Tuesday night stated that only 40% of the total intake in the newly formed private universities would be available to Maharashtra-domicile students while the remaining seats were for students from outside the state. However, the names of these three colleges do not even figure in the seat matrix uploaded on Wednesday on the CET cell website for the first round of admissions, reports Hindustan Times.
After obtaining approval as private universities, the following provisions, as specified under Clause 9.3 of the NEET UG - 2026 Information Brochure, will be applicable to the said colleges which include, "Out of the institutional seats, 40% of the seats shall be reserved for candidates holding a Maharashtra Domicile Certificate. candidates admitted at any college under these universities are not eligible for any Government Scholarship from any department. The Fees for the colleges under these universities will be decided by Fees Fixation Committee constituted by the respective university.as per Section No 42 (1) of the Maharashtra Private Universities (establishment and regulation) Act 2023’ and ‘The Maharashtra Private Universities (establishment and regulation) (third amendment) Act 2026'."
Speaking to TOI, Medical education secretary Dheeraj Kumar said, "Lata Mangeshkar University (earlier NKP Salve), Nagpur, and Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil University (earlier Dr VVPF Medical College), Ahilyanagar requested that the 40% domicile seats be filled by the state CET cell and the remaining 60% be filled at all-India level by the directorate general of health services’ MCC. The state has written to the MCC."
"The universities have been asked to declare the fee and communicate it to the state, CET cell and the MCC to enable them to join from the second round. They have assured us that they would communicate this at the earliest," said the secretary.
Students told HT that seats at these colleges were previously available to students from Maharashtra, including through the institutional quota. The sudden change has raised concerns among candidates who are now finalising their college choices.
Commenting on the matter, a parent representative said, "They could have started the process earlier or should have waited for the next year to give them permissions for private universities. There is no clarity on how the admissions will take place, or the fee or if it will be the same for both state and all-India seats. Such delays only create confusion in the decision making process for aspirants."
