Hyderabad: Non-resident Indians (NRIs) seeking admission to universities in the state are being told they are not eligible for counselling for management quota seats.
Parents allege that the problem is specifically with the all India deemed universities centralised counselling being conducted by the Director General of Health Sciences of the Union ministry of health.
According to parents, the fees for MBBS seats under the management quota was between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 15 lakh last year.
A few deemed universities have increased it to Rs 22 lakh this year.
For seats under the NRI quota, the fee is about Rs 35 lakh.
A few NRI students from the state decided to apply for seats under the management quota, but were told that they were not eligible.
Distressed parents approached the Hyderabad High Court which directed the director general of health sciences to accept the applications of petitioners for admission into MBBS courses at deemed universities under the general category.
Mr G.V.K. Reddy, a parent seeking admission for his daughter to the MBBS course at a deemed university, said, “We were denied management quota seats at medical colleges being run by deemed universities.”
“We did not participate in the first round of counselling because we were seeking admission under the management quota, as the fees for NRI quota seats are three times higher than the fees for management quota seats,” he added.
He added that they were not eligible to apply for management quota seats, as per the DGHS order. “While filling options, we did not have the option to choose management quota on the online forms. Many Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) have been unable to opt for seats in the first round. Only after High Court orders being issued in Telangana state, Kerala and Karnataka were they forced to consider OCIs, PIOs and NRIs for management quota seats.”
Mr Raj Bhandari from the city said, “Though it’s a good thing to have only one exams for medical admissions all over India, they should have planned it properly instead of creating such a mess for parents and students. They should have conducted the counselling sessions in one go, instead of separate counselling sessions for each of the states.”
He said that prohibiting NRI students from applying for management quota seats was a discriminatory practice.
“The online form was not ready to register our options, due to which we could not select our preferences in the first round. We had to face a lot of issues in the first round of counselling,” he said.
“After all this chaos I just hope that I will be able to secure a seat under the management quota this year for my daughter,” he added.
