Kerala: Govt to move SC over medical admission in state

Kochi: Kerala government indicated it may approach the Supreme Court seeking clarity over the Kerala High Court order permitting all self-financing medical and dental colleges in the state to go ahead with admission process for the management quota seats.

Both the Central government and the Supreme Court have said that admission for the medical and dental courses shall be conducted from the NEET list on the basis of merit. "It cannot be said the high court was yesterday reiterating the same stand," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here.

The state government might have to approach the Supreme Court to get a "legal clarity" on the matter, he said.

The high court yesterday granted a conditional stay on a state government order directing the Commissioner for Entrance Examination to conduct admission to all seats, including NRI and management, in self-financing medical and dental colleges in the state.

The court permitted the colleges to go ahead with admission process for the management quota seats.

A final decision on approaching the apex court on the issue is likely to be taken on Monday after the government's meeting with representatives of the self-financing medical and dental college managements.

Vijayan made it clear that the government did not want any confrontation with the self-financing colleges' managements on the issue.

The high court had rejected the contention of Advocate General C P Sudhakara Prasad that the government's aim behind the impugned order was to allot seats directly from National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) list to management quota to avoid corruption, capitation as well as to ensure transparency.

The private college managements have assailed the impugned order as "unconstitutional" and claimed it was an infringement on certain rights guaranteed under the Constitution to private educational institutions in the country.

The government order had said admission to 50 per cent merit seats in these institutions would be made through the Kerala Entrance Examination 2016 and admission to 35 per cent management quota and 15 per cent NRI seats from NEET list.