×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Comed-K: Students move HC

They were barred from attending counselling for flouting rules
Last Updated 22 May 2012, 20:34 IST

The just-concluded counselling for postgraduate medical and dental courses, conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (Comed-K), might plunge into a crisis.

Many students, barred from attending the counselling on May 18 and 19, have moved the High Court, seeking annulment of the entire process. While medical students moved individual petitions, their dental peers filed a joint application.

Most top-ranked students were disallowed to pick seats for not bringing demand drafts (DDs) drawn from the nationalised banks, as sought by the Comed-K. Quite a few were denied entry for their failure to bring the original bank counterfoil, another condition set by the Comed-K. The rule was mentioned in the notification issued on May 11.

The students’ repeated pleas were disregarded by the Comed-K, which refused to let them in, stressing that rules cannot be relaxed for a few. In all, nearly 100 students, including many top-ranked ones, were disallowed.

The agitated students have accused the Comed-K of “acting with a vengeance”. “It’s nothing but retaliation for our opposition to Comed-K’s faulty seat matrix last year. They are supposed to help us in the counselling, but I haven’t seen them doing that in the last three years,” Dr Sagar Rao told Deccan Herald.

Rao’s wife Sharada Udupa, ranked 62nd, was barred from the dental counselling because the counterfoil submitted by her was not signed by the bank manager. Ironically, however, the counterfoil is not usually signed by the bank manager. It has to be done by the concerned clerk. “At the most, it as a trivial clerical error,” Rao stressed.

Another student, ranked 37th, was disallowed as the Comed-K officials thought the Bank of Maharashtra, from where she drew the DD, was not a nationalised bank! Padma Nidhi Agarwal, ranked 104th, also could not get the bank counterfoil signed by the authority concerned. She got it done in 20 minutes, but the Comed-K refused to let her in, even though her rank had not yet come.

“She kept crying when students, ranked below her, got plum dental seats. She lost a precious year,” her father Dr Atul Agarwal said. The students had sought time to set things right, but the Comed-K refused. “If the Comed-K was so particular about DDs from nationalised banks, why didn’t it publish their list,” Dr Rao demanded.

The petitioners have sought the counselling to be nullified, and held again. The petition is expected to be admitted on Wednesday.

Comed-K Chief Executive A S Srikanth said he was unaware of the petition. “We will see it,” he told Deccan Herald. Meanwhile, the Comed-K has published a list of 26 nationalised banks, including the Bank of Maharashtra, from where DDs ought to be drawn.

It said that students must follow the rules for the second round of counselling, scheduled for May 28 and 29.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 22 May 2012, 20:34 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT