MCI Against Karnataka PG Medical Admission Criteria- Supreme Court informed

New Delhi: A Karnataka government notification making a minimum 10-year study in the State mandatory to qualify for government seats in PG medical courses has been disapproved of on Thursday by the Medical Council of India (MCI), before the Supreme Court

Senior Advocate B.P. Patil appearing before a Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, defended the eligibility condition for admission by citing the example of the states of U.P. and A.P. where the above condition prevails.

However, the council in its counter-argument stated that Postgraduate medical seats in government colleges are numbered and therefore are not to be subject to conditions. The State and the MCI have been directed by the bench to file individual responses.

In the course of hearing advocate Amit Kumar, representing the petitioners, sought a directive from the bench to allow the candidates, non-Kannadigas, who studied their MBBS and BDS courses from the Karnataka colleges and cleared NEET Post Graduate-2018, to get themselves registered for the counselling.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Dr. Kriti Lakhina and 39 others, wherein a request had been made by the petitioners to be allowed as non-Kannadigas to write NEET Post Graduate - 2018. The court reassured the petitioners that all would be done to safeguard their interests.

The Karnataka State Information Bulletin for Centralized Counselling for Postgraduate Admissions to degree /diploma Medical and Dental Courses released a few days ago stated the following clause leading to the above petition.

In an earlier story done by Medical Dialogues, it was reported that The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA ) Bengaluru, the official body for conducting counseling for allotment of seats for admission to Post Graduate degree courses in medical or dental courses in its official notification released during the week had come out with 'eligibility norms' under the 'candidate of Karnataka Origin' criterion in its official bulletin. The eligibility norms stated created a ripple among PG medical and dental aspirants, seeking admission in the state of Karnataka with another state domicile.

Clause

A candidate who has studied and passed in one or more Government or Government recognized, educational institutions located in the State of Karnataka for a minimum period of TEN academic years as on the 31st March 2018, commencing from 1^st standard to MBBS/BDS and must have appeared and passed either SSLC/10th standard or 2nd PUC/12th standard examination from Karnataka State. In case of the candidate who has taken more than one year to pass a class or standard, the years of academic study is counted as one year only. (Documents to be produced)

.Read also: MD, MS Admissions in Karnataka: KEA Eligibility Criteria opposed