Puducherry Fee Issue: DGHS directs deemed universities to admit 28 PG aspirants denied entry

Puducherry: Four deemed universities of Puducherry on Saturday, received a directive from the General Health Sciences (DGHS), Director asking that they accommodate the 28 students who were ‘illegally denied admission’ into the postgraduate medical courses offered by these universities. The students has earlier been denied admission due to their inability to pay ‘exorbitant fees’ being demanded by the universities.

According to the petitioner's Counsel, VBR Menon the DGHS’ directive comes following an order by the Madras High Court in favour of the 28 student petitioners.

The four deemed universities —Vinayaka Mission Medical College, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Arupadai Veedu Medical College, and Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Science, Puducherry were in an official communiqué dated May 19, were directed by the DGHS member Secretary, B Srinivas to ‘admit the students against the vacancies in their respective colleges'. The Madras High Court order copies were enclosed by the DGHS Secretary for their perusal.

“After completion of DGHS mop-up round of PG seats 2018, any seat remaining vacant thereafter will be transferred/reverted back to respective deemed/central universities and the allotment against these transferred/reverted seats will be done by the concerned universities at their own level. You are therefore requested to adjust these students (petitioners) against the vacancies at your respective colleges as per the availability under intimation of the undersigned (DGHS member Secretary, B Srinivas) for further intimation to the Medical Council of India,” the official correspondence to the four deemed universities by Srinivas ,stated reports TOI.

The petitioner Counsel, Mr Menon was also directed by Mr Srinivas to approach the medical colleges concerned for their PG admissions into medical courses after the DGHS completed its task of mop-up counseling.

Correspondence copies were marked by the DGHS to the MCI Secretary and the union government’s Standing Counsel in the Madras High Court.

Widespread complaints have been doing the rounds about deemed universities charging exorbitant fees (more than 45 lakh per annum) for PG medical courses.