Puducherry: 4 private medical colleges served contempt notices

Chennai: Private medical colleges under deemed universities alleged to have refused admission to medical aspirants unable to pay 10 lakh, have been issued contempt notices by Advocate, VBR menon. The contempt notice comes a week after the Madras High Court directed the Puducherry deemed universities to admit candidates, provisionally selected for admission to PG medical courses, through common counselling, by taking Rs. 10 lakh as fee.

Advocate Menon's contempt notice to the erring colleges states that he would initiate contempt proceedings against them for failure to comply with the court order, without any further notice.

On June 16, Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar passed an interim order against four medical colleges in the union territory, to admit aspirants for a fee of Rs 10 lakh. The four include: Aarupadai Veedu Medical College, Cuddalore, Vinayaga Mission Medical College, Karaikkal, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Puducherry, and Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Science, Puducherry.

However, Menon claimed that aspirants were being refused admission despite having been admitted through common counselling for state quota seats. A PIL moved by Advocate Menon alleged that the aspirants were being asked to pay a fee ranging between Rs 40 and Rs 50 lakh by these medical colleges. This sum was being asked against the Rs. 5.5 lakh fixed by the statutory fee committee for self-financing colleges, the PIL stated reports Hindu.