519 MBBS admissions in 17 colleges cancelled by MCI

The Medical Council of India(MCI), in a stringent measure has cancelled 519 MBBS admissions of students enrolled in 17 colleges and attending classes for the past three months. The education regulator alleges that the colleges admitted these students directly; a violation of the Supreme Court order dated 28^th September, 2016. The order directed the state governments to hold centralized counselling and allocate colleges to students on the basis of their NEET scores.

“While scrutinizing the admissions process, we found that 17 colleges in three states have given direct admission to 519 students in violation of the SC order,” said a senior MCI official, in response to an RTI application, filed by a correspondent.

Investigations are underway and more admission cancellations are likely to happen. This is the first time that such a large body of students is being expelled from MBBS programs for not complying with admission rules.

The medical colleges on their part have defended their act of direct admissions by saying that the counselling process was very slow and filing up seats by the admission deadline (October, 7, 2016, )had become next to impossible. This they said was the reason for taking on direct admissions, rather than towing a baggage of vacant seats. Uttar Pradesh heads the list, with the highest number of violations. It is believed 14 colleges gave direct admission to 481 students in the state. The three other states that follow are: Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; each with one college and a total of 38 students reports HT