MBBS admissions: Karuna Medical College students in protest

Kochi: Students of Karuna Medical College, Palakkad started a protest against the college management for disrupting the education of 31 of their students, just a little ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on the Medical Council of India(MCI), case challenging the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regulation and Admission in Medical Colleges) Ordinance, 2017.

The ordinance was issued to regularize the admission of management and NRI quota students in 3 medical colleges of the state, namely Karuna Medical College, Palakkad (31 students) and SUT Academy of Medical Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram (1 student) and Kannur Medical College, Anjarakkandy (137 students),.

The 2016-17 student's batch has been in a limbo since their registration to Kerala University of Health and Sciences (KUHS) was suspended by JM James Admission Supervisory Committee citing ineligibility, of these students.

Students and their parents, however, claim that all verified documents needed for the admission formalities were submitted timely; and that they are in possession of the sealed documents provided by the committee, confirming the authorities having received verified documents from the students.

"The registration of the students were suspended not because of their ineligibility, but because of the college administration apparently not having signed the fee structure agreement well in advance. Whenever we approached the college management, they assured us that the matter will be taken care of by the college authorities and that we need not be concerned about the issue at all. However, we were informed about the failure to register these students only a day or two before the issuance of hall tickets for the exam, by which it was too late to act upon the case ourselves," a mother of a student who is facing disrupted study told TOI.

She admitted to students going through tremendous tension as their counterparts had moved way ahead in their courses.

"The students who took admission to the 31 suspended seats were holders of ranks lower than the students' whose registrations were suspended. There has been clearly a foul play orchestrated by the committee and the health secretary," added a protester.

"The future of the kids depend on the SC judgement, that may be declared on Monday," they further claimed.

MCI had earlier stated that the Kerala government was in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution by the promulgation of the ordinance. The government had, it claimed, bypassed the SC and HC orders, and also ignored the Admission Supervisory Committee's finding that the college was an illegal recipient of capitation fee.

In an earlier story done by Medical Dialogues it was reported that the Former Justice, Supreme Court P. Sathasivam, the former Chief Justice of India and the present Governor of Kerala, had signed the ordinance introduced by Kerala Government to regularize admissions in two self-financing medical colleges, which had earlier been cancelled by the Supreme Court. Ironically, the Governor had earlier, returned the Ordinance without signing, citing legal anomalies. The ordinance introduced by the Kerala government is meant to regularize around 180 admissions to MBBS seats for the academic year 2016-17 in Kannur and Karuna Medical Colleges, which were cancelled by the Apex Court on the ground that they were made in a non-transparent and arbitrary manner.