Govt Medical College Admissions:396 medical aspirants face career uncertainty

Mumbai: The petition moved by parents over the criteria for admission under the domicile quota has put the future of 396 medical aspirants in a state of flux.

The future of 396 aspirants, currently eligible for admission to government medical colleges in the state, is now in a limbo as a group of parents has moved the court over the criteria for admission under the domicile quota.

A state Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) list released last Monday has named 396 candidates who took their Class X board exams outside Maharashtra and their Class XII board in state.

A July 5 Judgment of the Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad Bench on admission criteria makes these candidates eligible for admission to the 85 percent seats reserved in government medical colleges under the domicile quota.

However, this decision of the bench has been challenged by a few parents in a review petition.

“The review petition has been filed and the DMER has assured us that if the court rules in our favour, the candidates will be removed from the merit list,”said a parent activist, working in the area of streamlining admission processes.

Pravin Shinghare, DMER, Director, said the decision of the court would decide the further course of action. Following allegations by parents of a domicile fraud, th DMER was forced to announce the list of candidates who had appeared for the class X exam from outside the state.

Many parents alleged that different state’s fake domicile certificates had been used by students to apply for seats in Government Medical Colleges.

The parents had also demanded that the DMER release the list of candidates being considered in eligible for the admission process owing to improper or lack of documentation and for having appeared for their class X exam outside the state of Maharashtra.

The DMER produced one of the lists carrying details of 769 candidates disqualified for being ineligible for admissions , as they had failed to submit the necessary documents asked for.

Shingare contended that this category could be successfully kept out of the process as a fraud could not have occurred in their case.

He said the DMER had verified the documents of the first 20,000 rank holders out of a total of 54,000 applicants.

“We only have 2,700 seats in government colleges. The documents of first 20,000 rank holders were verified as candidates with higher rank will not be eligible for government college seats,” said Shinghare. “We had asked for a list of those who faked their domicile certificates. However, the DMER has given us a list of ineligible candidates,” said a medical aspirant’s parentIn one of the lists, the DMER has furnished details of 769 candidates who were deemed ineligible for admission after they failed to produce the necessary documents.

Shinghare said these candidates were successfully weeded out of the process and hence a fraud could not have occurred. He said the DMER had verified the documents of the first 20,000 rank holders out of a total of 54,000 applicants.

“We only have 2,700 seats in government colleges. The documents of first 20,000 rank holders were verified as candidates with higher rank will not be eligible for government college seats,” said Shinghare.

“We had asked for a list of those who faked their domicile certificates. However, the DMER has given us a list of ineligible candidates,” a parent of a medical aspirant told TNIE.