Sunni Muslim quota DISALLOWED for MBBS admissions at Kanachur Medical College by Karnataka HC

If requests of this nature were entertained in other religious and linguistic minority institutions, the process of medical admissions would go topsy-turvy- observed the court

Bengaluru: Kanachur Islamic Education Trust, Bengaluru's petition seeking allotment of only Sunni Muslim students to their institution for MBBS courses under the management quota was dismissed by the High Court recently.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that Kanachur Islamic Education Trust had filed a petition in the High Court of Karnataka, seeking a directive to the state government for allocation of

MBBS medical seats to Sunni Muslim community-alone, at Kanachur Medical College, Mangaluru.

However, the state authorities have opposed the plea on the ground that the National Commission for Minority Educational Institution has issued a certificate to the Trust stating that it is a religious minority (Muslim institution) and therefore, it would be wrong on its part to insist on Sunni sect seat allotments, alone.

Read also: Trust demands Quota for Sunni Muslim Community for MBBS admissions at Kanachur Medical College

A division bench comprising Justice Mohammed Nawaz and Justice AS Bopanna observed that if requests of this nature were entertained in other religious and linguistic minority institutions, the process of medical admissions would go topsy-turvy. The judiciary observed that the right of a meritorious Muslim candidate who opted for the petitioner college could not be denied admission if he wasn't a Sunni.

The court further observed that the Kanachur College of Medical Sciences had been issued a minority certification in September 2015 by the National Minority Commission. Not to forget the consensual agreement 's undertaking that 66% seats are to be filled by minority community students.

However, the stand taken by the trust in the past has been that besides being a religious minority institution, it was also one managed by Sunni Muslims; and therefore, had all the right to choose students of the same sect

Earlier the trust, which runs Kanachur Institute of Medical Sciences in Mangaluru, had challenged the Department of Medical Education's July 4, 2018 decision rejecting its plea to admit only Sunni Muslim students.

In an earlier story Medical Dialogues had reported that in May this year, the trust in a written communiqué to the department had requested that allotment preference to it be that of Sunni Muslim community students. 82 of 150 seats that fall under the institutional/management quota seats for first-year MBBS course for 2018-19, fall within this selection purview it stated. It further emphasized that it was open to taking in any religion or caste students for the remaining 38 Government quota seats, which happen to be 25% of the total number as reported by the Hindu.