Kerala: The admission paradox

KOCHI: There took place a quantum leap in MBBS seats this year with the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee overturning the decision of the Medical Council of India not to grant MBBS seats to several private colleges in Kerala. However, students with relatively good NEET ranks are still running from pillar to post to get seats in the management quota. Students with 25,000 to 40,000 ranks are searching for seats while those having ranks in lakhs and up to over 4 lakh are finding a place in the rank list for management quota admission put out by respective managements. The Admission Supervisory Committee headed by Justice J.M. James is initiating a slew of measures to bridle the uncanny managements.

“The MBBS seats are offered as packages through agents by the managements which come in the range of Rs 75-80 lakh. Of this Rs 30-35 lakh is capitation fee and Rs 8-11 lakh is fee. On the other hand Rs 11 lakh is collected as interest-free deposit and Rs 44 lakh as bank guarantee from students who come in merit,” says social activist N.M. Pearson whose daughter Sethulekshmi N.P. was an applicant with a NEET rank of 31,379 but did not get into the rank list of the private colleges. Al-Azhar College, Thodupuzha, made 352 applicant students ineligible citing one ground or the other. “These are grounds with no basis and the James Committee is looking into it. The college belonging to Muslim community has denied admission to Muslim students with better rank. For example Mohammed Arif (serial number 216) who has a NEET rank of 22,257 has been denied admission saying ‘No online printout with signature, no photos, no physical fitness certificate, no annexure 1&2’.

“The original prospectus do not mention annexure 1&2 and fitness certificate. The student certainly would have submitted the online printout with signature as without it the application would be summarily rejected by the college. So they are citing unsubstantiated grounds to reject an application which is the case with several other students also,” said Mr Pearson. A total of 52 students have found place in the rank list of Al-Azhar which has several students above the rank of two lakh. Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Science (SNIMS), Chalakka, has published a ranklist containing the names of 60 ‘eligible’ students and not maintaining any list of rejected applicants. “My daughter should have been found at the fourth rank in the list considering her NEET rank. But her name is not in the list. The student with the 60th place is having a NEET rank of 4,28,144. So anybody can guess what would have taken place. All of them are learnt to have agreed to give Rs 30 lakh as capitation fee to the management.

“If these two managements are allowed to go scot free then the entire private medical college MBBS management quota admission would violate principles of merit, transparency and justice,” said Mr Pearson. He said that when students approached the SNIMS citing the direction of the Justice James Committee to get their grievance redressed by approaching the college management on Saturday, the college authorities did not oblige. The petitioner has also raised question mark over the admission process of Believers Church Medical College. DM Wayanad Medical College, Mount Zion Medical College, Azeezia MC, Kollam, Karuna MC, Palakkad, Malabar MC,Kozhikode, MES Medical College, Malappuram and Travancore Medical College Kollam. The complaint against majority of the colleges is that they haven't published on their website the NEET-based ranklist. Managing Director of Al-Azhar Medical College Advocate K Nijas told this paper on Saturday that he would be in a position to react on the issue only on Monday. An admission committee official of SNIMS said that the admission has been conducted as per procedure and schedule laid by the James Committee.

"The last date for submission of online applications was September 9 and the students had time to correct on Sept 10 and had to submit hard copies by Sept 13. A total of 332 applications were received and the rank list of 60 was published after rejecting applications which had defects on the basis of legal advice. By 4 pm on Saturday, we gave admissions to 35 students from the ranklist and rejected certain applicants who came saying that James Committee asked to reconsider their case as they did not have any sustainable ground," said the official. However, Mr Pearson, who is planning to approach the High Court over the issue, said that the students were not given time to correct by the management.

Anomalies exist on rank lists

 

Candidates seeking admission in self-financing medical colleges allege anomalies in publishing the rank lists of eligible candidates. They have filed a petition before the fee regulatory committee for professional colleges headed by Justice J.M. James claiming the process was non-transparent. The parents allege that these medical managements are in an apparent attempt to "sell" the seats to candidates willing to pay higher, completely disregarding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) rank list. "The managements cite flimsy reasons including absence of the signature on NEET rank list to reject the application," D. N. Sudheesh, a parent from Kollam who gave the petition on the issue told DC.

"In the present allotment, candidates having ranks even above two lakh have been given seats, denying chances for eligible candidates. If 300 or 400 students apply for the seats, only about 60-70 are getting qualified based on their weird terms. This is purely non-transparent." The private managements first asked the candidates to upload details online which was later cancelled, and fresh uploads were to be made. The managements allegedly abstained from informing the candidates to re-upload their documents in an apparent move to keep the seats vacant, Mr Sudheesh alleged. "It is difficult to be on the list without giving them money," he added.

James Committee proceeds against erring colleges

Admission supervisory committee headed by Justice J.M. James is going ahead with disciplinary actions against the colleges that violated agreements with the government. The committee which rejected the admissions made to Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College, Palakkad, has asked them to go in for new applications last date of which is September 19. The committee also has asked Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, to submit the reasons for rejecting the applications of some candidates.

Kannur and Karuna have been directed to call only online applications for the new admission process. The committee warned the two colleges that only admitted candidates, complying with the procedure of the ASC and recommended for registration by Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) would be approved. MBBS applicants and their parents had submitted a complaint to the ASC alleging that Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences rejected their online applications on the ground that the undertaking for the bank guarantee they provided was found to be incomplete and therefore, legally invalid.

They alleged that this act of the college was deliberate to avoid the applicants whose NEET ranks are higher and to allow the applicants, whose NEET ranks are lower to that of the rejected. The ASC has asked the college to give the opportunity to all the MBBS applicants whose applications were rejected to re-submit an undertaking for the bank guarantee, and give them the opportunity to appear for counselling and admission.

Earlier, the committee which rejected the admissions made to PK Das Medical College, Ottappalam, has published a new list of rejected candidates and also the list of candidates who have been eligible for admission to the management and merit quota seats. Mount Zion Medical College, Adoor, Sree Gokulam Medical College, Venjaramoodu, Travancore Medical College, Kollam, had to republish the admission list following ASC intervention.