Minister of State for Medical Education Sharan Prakash Patil has given broad indications that the State government will revisit the implementation of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions Act 2006 during academic year 2015-16 with appropriate changes in the Act to protect the interests of students and regulate admissions made by private professional colleges.
Speaking to The Hindu here on Monday, Dr. Patil said that the government had decided to keep the Act in abeyance for the academic year 2014-15, following protests by students organisations that the medical, dental and engineering seats available under the government quota would be reduced.
He admitted that many advantages in the implementation of the Act, including bringing in all professional colleges run by the deemed universities and minority institutions under the umbrella of one examination conducted by private managements for admission to available seats in professional colleges, had not been properly placed before the general public, particularly students organisations.
The implementation of the Act would have regulated admissions and the conduct of entrance examinations by private managements as the entire process of admissions and the entrance examinations would be supervised by a committee headed by a retired High Court judge.
As per the Act, if the committee, headed by a retired High Court judge, felt that admissions and entrance examinations were not conducted as per procedures laid down by the committee and the Act, the government was empowered to take over the admission process and also conduct a common entrance examination for all available seats.
Dr. Patil said that the government had taken steps to protect the interests of students, particularly the poorer sections of society by extending 50 per cent reservation in seats allotted by private professional colleges as per the Act to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes.
The government also proposed to reimburse the entire fee of students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and category I among backward classes admitted in private professional colleges.
