The stay granted by the Kerala High Court on the order of the State government asking the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations to carry out allotments to all seats in private self-financing colleges has come as a shot in the arm for managements which have already initiated admission procedures in their respective medical colleges.
The stay, though, has been tempered by the court directive that the Admission Supervisory Committee (ASC) must approve of the prospectus of individual colleges and that colleges must accept applications online; something that the ASC had already required them to do.
Speaking to mediapersons here, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja hinted that the government may not go in appeal to the Supreme Court against the stay granted by the High Court.
Ms. Shylaja pointed out that it was never the intention of the government to harass the managements and that the government only wanted to ensure that merit was the overriding principle in admissions to medical colleges.
The government was also aware of the fact that any judicial appeal would draw out the case even further, throwing in jeopardy admissions to medical colleges, she said.
Managements’ stance
Meanwhile, the Kerala Private College Management Association indicated that it would proceed apace with the admission procedure to its member colleges. Association secretary Anil Kumar Vallil told The Hindu that the government order was an encroachment on the rights of the managements.
“Even now we are ready for talks with the government. However, now we have decided that if there is to be a 50:50 seat split the government has to agree to unification of fee. The court verdict, more than being a victory for the managements, is a victory for reality,” he said.
The spokesperson for the Kerala Christian Professional College Management Federation George Paul said that member colleges of the federation had received about 7,000 applications for MBBS seats and that they would go ahead with admissions based on this.
“There was really no need for the government to go in for such a step. No sensible government official would have advised the government to do this. The federation has already signed a pact with the government wherein we will admit 50 per cent of students from the Kerala medical rank list and the rest from the NEET list. Though we charge uniform fee — the only possible course of action as per Supreme Court verdicts — we also provide scholarships to 10 students,” he said.
In a press note issued here, former Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar said Friday’s High Court verdict was one that the government invited on itself. The government decision was one that was taken without sufficient homework and without any consideration as to its legal footing.
During the tenure of the UDF government, there was a peaceful atmosphere on the self-financing front. The government was able to avoid hefty yearly fee hikes. The Chief Minister should urgently intervene on this issue to set at rest the anxieties of students and parents, the press note added.
