Students decry quota limit'

Thiruvananthapuram: A group of students has petitioned the Prime Minister against limiting the All-India Quota admissions for MBBS courses from NEET list to two rounds of allotment. Till 2015, there were three rounds of allotment for 15 per cent seats earmarked for All-India Quota. As a result, many All-India Quota seats remained unfilled and diverted to each of the individual states.

The mass petition submitted pointed out that 15 per cent of All-India Quota MBBS seats from the whole of the government medical colleges across the country are being filled up by the Director General of Health Services, Delhi, on behalf of the Medical Counselling Committee. In 2016 for the first time, the third round of allotment was not conducted due to lack of time, as a result of the two All-India Quota entrance tests held as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

Even though there were no such circumstances in 2017, the allotment was limited to two rounds only which led to many All-India Quota seats remaining unfilled and consequently diverted to individual states. This practice makes a situation of the All-India Quota seats getting filled from the state rank list which is prepared by each state only for their residents.

A state rank list is actually prepared exclusively for filling up the vacancies existing in all private and government medical colleges within the state and not for filling up the diverted seats from All India Quota. These seats whether they are diverted to the states or not is the privilege of candidates belonging to All India Quota rank list.  So the allotment must be restricted to the same instead of the state list.

Otherwise, it creates a pathetic situation that a candidate with a higher rank in the all India rank list gets deprived of a chance to get admission in any other state except his because each state accommodates only their residents for filling the state quota.  Thus a candidate with a low rank easily manages to grab a diverted seat denying the opportunity of the meritorious ones ranked higher than him on the All India Quota Rank List. 

They say this is a grave injustice, a denial of opportunity for the deserving ones, and violation of human rights for the toppers.  "The process of diversion of seats is against the very objectives of All India Quota Reservation," said C. V. Anilkumar, a native of Kodungalloor in Thrissur. The admission procedure can also be scheduled so as to meet the requirement for the third round of allotment and a spot counselling too.