HC order puts future of 13 medical students in peril

Court had asked the CET candidates to pay Comed-K fees

Thirteen students who were allotted medical seats through CET in 2015-2016 are devastated after the High Court recently ordered that they have to pay Comed-K fee to continue their medical education for the academic year 2016-2017. 

The court directed Father Muller Medical College, Mangaluru, to admit these students for this year by collecting the Comed-K fee of Rs 5.45 lakh from each of them.

The 13 students are Sapna V, Dev Kumar E, Pragathi J, Shresta Alva, Ravindra Kumar, Naveen Katarki, Aaaron Mathaias, Amruth T D, Syed Roshan, Utsav J Karia, Sharath Devidas Bhat, Gaurang Kamalkarpur and Sanjay Shetty.One of the students broke down and told Deccan Herald that all the 13 students are traumatised after the court verdict. 

TraumatisedThe student said, “Despite studying hard and getting good CET ranking, we have not only lost an academic year, but have to pay more to retain the seats. All the students have gone into depression and one of them has even spoken about ending his life. We all belong to economically poor sections of the society. How can we afford to pay hefty fees to retain the seats?” the student said. 

CET students normally pay around Rs 70,000 per year, but under Comed-K, the fee is around Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh, including admission, college and hostel fees.The mother of another student said, “When these meritorious students opted for the reputed Father Muller College, there was no mention on the notice board that the seats allotted to them were “risky”, but within 15 days of admission, the seats allotted were cancelled. Cases were filed in the Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court. These students have secured ranks like 488 and 576. Yet, they are asked to pay Comed-K fees,” the mother said.    

Rev Fr Patrick, director of the college, said, “These students were never asked to remain in our college, many had the option to get admission in another college. But they chose to wait for the court’s order. Even in our defence, the college never sought Comed-K fees from the CET students.” 

The college had admitted 39 students, including 13 CET students, for 2015-2016. But these seats were not approved as the Medical Council of India rejected permission. The matter is still pending before the apex court.