Gujarat:GUJCET score replaces NEET for managemement quota seats

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has turned down two petitions challenging the merger of the GMERS (Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society) college's management quota seats with the general quota and grant admission based on GUJCET(Gujarat Common Entrance Test) instead of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The matter in all likelihood is going to be taken up by the Supreme Court.

The bench which dismissed the petition is headed by Chief Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi. Ten medical aspirants had filed petitions in the High Court for admissions through NEET, instead of GUJSET to be accepted. The names of the petitioners are as following: Soneri Doctor, Aryaman Shah and Akhani Samrat Kiritbha and seven others.

Despite the petitioners' plea, the High Court upheld the state government’s decision that admission to the 105 management quota seats in seven GMERS colleges be conducted through GUJCET. It passed its verdict to this effect on August 26. Earlier, these seats were mandated to be filled through NEET. The state government decision to switch over from NEET to GUJSET will have far reaching consequences for parents, for the fee structure based on NEET ranking was to be Rs. 8.5 lac per student, however, with GUJSET and the government quota coming in, it would come down to as low as Rs. 3 lac per year. The government brought the fact to light, that the switch over and quota merger would help parents save between Rs. 6 & 7 crore.

The petitioners on the other hand claimed that their chances in getting admissions would get prejudiced. "The entire exercise of surrender of seats from the Management Quota to the Government Quota is in direct breach of the principles of natural justice and attack on the doctrine of legitimate expectation of the students who have fared well in the NEET examination and are desirous of seeking admission in the transformed quota as per the merit of NEET examinations," the petition said. The petition further claimed that the state governments decision was an attempt to appease certain candidates.

"The said action of the colleges and the state government in surrendering the seats from Management Quota to Government Quota is with a view to override the rights of the meritorious students who have performed well in the NEET examinations and extend such ill benefits to the students who are in the merit list of GUJCET that too after the publishing of results and merit list," the petition claimed.