Goa: Student Versus College Authorities on cut-off dates of medical college admissions

Panaji: Students aspiring for admission to Goa Medical College, who claimed ignorance about dates of admission as the reason for having missed submission of application forms, were contradicted by the authorities in the High Court. They in their response in Court stated that the dates were announced by them in March. A cutting of a newspaper report that appeared in the TOI was attached to substantiate the statement.

The High Court will be taking up the matter next Wednesday.A group of medical aspirants had approached the judiciary for relief after having missed the Directorate of Technical Education’s deadline to apply for admission to GMC, reports the TOI.

The students in their petition stated that the college authorities required aspirants to apply for seats before the results of the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) were out. Yet, many thought that the admission for MBBS seats at GMC would only begin after the declaration of the NEET results.

The college authorities on Monday in their submission stated "students cannot claim ignorance of the dates to apply for the seats as the prospectus was out in March and the schedule to submit the admission forms was amply publicized. ” They further substantiated their statement by attaching a TOI advertisement to prove their claim.

Calling the submission of forms before or after the NEET result as inconsequential, the authorities said that according to the procedure, students were required to submit their forms for seats first and provide their NEET scores after the announcement of results.

About 10 petitioner candidates of the group of students that approached the Court got admission at GMC and classes for them commenced on August 1. Their admissions happened after an interim order was passed by the High Court for the provision of temporary relief; asking the college to consider the late applicants for admissions. However, these admissions will be subject to further orders by the court.

Yet another group of medical seat aspirants had also earlier filed an intervention application in the case expressing fears that they could be losing out on their seat, despite having applied within the scheduled time, unlike the late comers.