Medical admissions: No foul play, panel warns colleges

Thiruvananthapuram: With the self-financing medical college managements refusing to surrender the vacant seats to the common counselling process of the state government as per the Supreme Court verdict, the Admission Supervisory Committee headed by Justice J.M.  James has issued strict warning to the managements to abide by the directive.

Health Minister K.K. Shylaja told the Assembly that the Government would take  action against KMCT, Karuna and Kannur medical colleges for violating the agreement with the government. While KMCT decided to conduct admissions to all seats on its own, the other two medical colleges have decided to go for  higher fees than that agreed with the government. Both have cited court orders to justify their claims.

While replying to the notice for an adjournment motion, minister Shylaja reiterated the government stand that the pact had benefited the student community. Kerala Private Medical College Management Association (KPMCA) secretary Anilkumar Vallil told DC that the managements had decided not to give the details of the vacant seats to the government as they have to study the details of the Supreme Court verdict. However, the government would also go ahead with the measures to fill up the vacant seats in the self-financing medical colleges through spot admissions to be held on September 30, the last date to fill vacant seats as per MCI guidelines.

The newly-allotted Gokulam medical college has surrendered 50 seats and Sri Sankara dental college 25 seats to the common counselling process. Meanwhile, the commissioner for entrance examinations B.S. Maoji has asked the students to appear for the spot allotment scheduled to be held at the  old auditorium of Thiruvananthapuram medical college here on September 30. The managements have been asked to send their officials to the counselling centre to ensure that the students are admitted on the spot.

Govt apathy fails monitoring panel

The failure to ensure a proper fee regulation mechanism by the successive governments has resulted in the present crisis in the self-financing professional college sector. Though the governments have appointed the statutory fee regulatory committee as per various court orders, they have failed to provide adequate support staff for carrying out the exercise.

As per the law, a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Court should be the chairperson of the committee. The members  included secretary to government either of health and family welfare or higher education, a chartered accountant nominated by the government in consultation with the chairperson, a representative of either the Medical  Council of India or the All-India Council for Technical Education and an educational expert nominated by the government in consultation with the chairperson. 

The practice followed in the state was to nominate the same judge to head both the admission supervisory committee and the fee regulatory committee. As the state has  more than 24 medical colleges, over 40 dental colleges and over 150 self-financing engineering colleges, it was impossible to monitor the cost incurred by each college with such a minimal number of staff.  Sources said that now the fee regulatory committee was depending upon the staff of the chartered accountant appointed as member of the committee to examine the documents of the colleges. However, there are doubts on the effectiveness of this system. Moreover, the committee does not have any set-up for determining whether capitation fee was being collected.

Talks fail to end stalemate

The talks held between Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan and leaders of various political parties failed to break the stalemate in the House on Thursday.  The Opposition boycotted the proceedings accusing the  government of supporting self-financing college managements.  The talks were conducted after the  UDF stalled the proceedings on the fourth day on the issue.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stayed away from the meeting.  The Opposition alleged that his decision was a breach of norms. Meanwhile, the indefinite fast by three UDF MLAs outside the House entered the second day. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala told reporters that the state government was not able to control the self-financing college managements. During the tenure of the UDF government, the fee hike for medical colleges was less than 10 percent every year. However, the increase now was more than 35 percent,  he  said.

UDF MLAs walk out of the Assembly for the consecutive second day in protest on the self financing college issue on Thursday. — By arrangementThe Assembly was suspended for more than one hour after the Opposition trooped to the well of the House as the Speaker refused to allow the notice for adjournment motion moved by Mr Sunny Joseph.  Later they boycotted the proceedings for the day. However, the government took up the discussions on the demands for grants for home  and stationery departments.

The ruling front during the discussions made it clear that the fee for self-financing medical colleges fixed as per the agreement with the government could not  be reduced. Earlier, the Opposition MLAs reached the Assembly tying  black badges and holding placards and banners.  They  protested without asking any questions during question hour even when the Speaker asked them. However, the government went ahead with the question hour.