Govt not serious about PG medical admission, HC says

Students’ plea for seats in deemed varsities to be decided today

The State government is not serious about such an important matter as admission of meritorious students to postgraduate medical courses at deemed universities, COMED-K institutions and linguistic minority colleges, the High Court remarked on Tuesday. 

A division bench of Justices K L Manjunath and Ravi Malimath said it would adjudicate on Wednesday the petition by MBBS students who have not been allotted PG seats under government quota in deemed universities, COMED-K and linguistic minority colleges. 

As per the various memoranda of understanding and consensual agreements, the government is entitled to 33 per cent of PG medical seats at 12 COMED-K colleges, 25 per cent seats at eight deemed universities and 20 per cent seats at six linguistic minority colleges (under the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Colleges’ Association). The seats should be filled through the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA). But the institutions instead filled the seats under the management quota. 

The bench gave the government counsel a dressing-down for not filing an appropriate affidavit on what action would be taken against the erring institutions. It told the counsel that the affidavit he had filed did not have details of how the government would reclaim the seats. The bench went on to remark that no seriousness had been shown by the government and it was simply wasting the court’s time by seeking adjournment. 

The court also criticised the government for not taking any action against the deemed universities even after serving them notices. The bench observed that except for Manipal University, all deemed universities had refused to allot 25 per cent of the medical seats under government quota. 

The bench then asked the government counsel to submit an affidavit on what action would be taken against the deemed universities which refused to admit students who secured ranks in the Karnataka Postgraduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET). 

The government counsel said students from deemed universities would not be henceforth allowed to practise at government hospitals and healthcare centres, prompting the bench to retort that deemed universities had better hospitals. 

Official’s absence riles HC

The High Court took exception to the absence of N Sivasailam, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, who has been given interim charge of Medical Education, during the post-lunch hearing on the petition. 

Sivasailam, who appeared before the court in the morning, was asked to file an affidavit on what action the government would take against colleges who had broken the consensual agreement. The court then adjourned the matter until lunch. 

When the hearing resumed after lunch, the bench expressed its displeasure after it realised Sivasailam was not present.