Kerala: Medical College admission Bill to undergo scrutiny

Thiruvanathapuram: The legislation to regularize the admissions in Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College, Palakkad, in 2016-17 which were cancelled on the ground that they were non-transparent and arbitrary were referred to the Subjects committee on Tuesday in the Assembly.

The above decision was taken based on the petition filed by students expressing their grievance on having been victimized for no fault of theirs. The Kerala Professional Colleges (Regularisation of Admission in Medical Colleges) Bill, 2018 was brought to replace the ordinance.

Kannur and Karuna Medical College had not signed a pact with the Government last year in admission matters and conducted them on their own. The James Committee had, on the other hand, declared 30 Karuna Medical College students ineligible for admissions. University of Health Sciences had announced that it would not be responsible for admissions taken by students in Kannur and Karuna Medical Colleges, one of the nine debarred against admissions for the academic year 2016-17.

The Bill will be reversed to the assembly after the subjects committee has pondered over it. The students who got admissions are to be qualified as per the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) rank list. According to the Bill, only a Secretary rank officer can consider applications as per the norms set by the government

Admissions of 150 students to professional colleges were cancelled by Justice James Committee for fee regulation and admission after irregularity in them was discovered.

In an earlier story done by medical dialogues it was reported that an ordinance for regularizing 150 MBBS seats at Kannur Medical College, Anjarakandy had been revoked by Governor P. Sathasivam.

The governor had declined to accept the ordinance seeking further clarifications on it by the state government. The Supreme Court and the Admission Supervisory Committee chaired by Justice J. M. James had earlier, dismissed the admissions on the basis of irregularities.

Read also: Ordinance regularising admissions at Kannur Medical College declined by Governor

Student Admissions to 11 seats in Malabar Medical College and eight seats in Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, are also likely to benefit from the move. However, the issue of legal scrutiny still stands, reports Deccan Chronicle.