Karnataka PG Medical Aspirants to get 50 Percent Domicile Reservation

42% seats are of private medical colleges, termed as Open category and now of that 42 %- 50% seats will be reserved for PG medical students from Karnataka

Bengaluru: The long-standing demand of Karnataka -based PG medical aspirants urging for stocky domicile reservation for them at medical colleges, has finally been addressed by the state medical education department.

As confirmed from recent media accounts, Karnataka government has decided reserve 50 % seats in Post-Graduate (PG) medical courses for students from Karnataka under the Open Category at state's private medical colleges from the academic year 2019-20.

At present, 42% seats are of private medical colleges, termed as Open category and now of that 42 %, 50% seats will be reserved for students from Karnataka.

According to the seat matrix of Karnataka PG medical admission process, 33% goes to the government, 42% for private colleges and 15% NRI and 10% institutional and in-service quota.

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PG Medical aspirants from the state have been fighting for domicile quota for a few years urging the state government to stop allowing students from outside Karnataka under the Open Category. They justifiably contended that they can't apply to other state medical colleges then why Karnataka is offering such chunky quota to PG aspirants from other states.

Under the open category, even candidates from other states can apply and appear for counselling, which comes to around 1,000 seats every year. However, PG medical aspirants from the state contend that they are not allowed to take part in the counselling at any other states, reports TNIE.

The students had approached the state HC in 2017-18 but their plea was quashed by the court which stated that the admission process had already begun. Thereafter, the PG aspirants had begun urging the government on this domicile reservation plea before the notification for admission was issued.

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Now, considering the demand of these aggrieved students, the department has brought amendments to the PG CET medical admission rules where 50% reservation will be given for students from Karnataka under Open Category. The Medical Education Department changed its rules at the last minute.

Speaking to Mirror, a senior official from the Ministry stated, "This was a long-pending demand of PG medical aspirants. They have maintained that students from other states get a big chunk of the seats. So we thought we should reserve 50 per cent seats for students from Karnataka in the Open Category."

Read Also: PG Medical Students have to undergo mandatory government service: Karnataka HC

Stop allowing students from outside Karnataka

However, the students are hoping that the state government completely abolishes counselling of students from other states. "Not just 50%, we hope the government will stop allowing students from outside Karnataka under Open Category. When we are ready to pay the fee fixed for students from outside Karnataka, what is the need to allow to them," a student said.