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'Merit discarded in admission to management quota'

By Our Staff Reporter

Kochi Feb. 13. Even as a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court adjourned to tomorrow for further arguments in the review petition filed by the Government in the self-financing medical college case, the Government informed the Bench that the principle of merit had been discarded by the managements in the selection of students for the management seats.

The Bench comprising the Chief Justice, J.L. Gupta, and Justice M. Ramachandran was also informed by the Government that this was against the dictum of the Supreme Court that the selection process by managements should be transparent and merit-based. In its affidavit, the Government pointed out that as many as 35,000 candidates had appeared for the Entrance Examination conducted by the Commissioner. At that time, all students aspiring for a seat in any medical colleges had to appear for the examination. The 50 students each admitted by the Malankara Medical College and the Pushpagiri Medical Colleges had also appeared for the examination. A comparison of their ranks with the ranks of the students provisionally selected by the Commissioner to fill 50 per cent seats in these institutions would reveal a telling picture on the comparative merit of the said students. The first 25 candidates allotted by the Commissioner to each of these colleges ranked higher than the highest ranking candidates selected by the managements.

During the arguments, the Advocate General, M. Ratna Singh, pointed out that the figure supplied by the Pushpagiri College showed that it had collected huge amounts from each student admitted to the management quota, violating the directive in the judgment to collect only Rs.1.5 lakhs from each student. The college management had admitted that it had collected Rs.554 lakhs from 48 students and Rs.320 lakhs from another set of 25 students. Thus, a total of Rs. 874 lakhs had been collected. The Advocate General argued that the collection of such a huge amount as advance from the students amounted to capitation fee. He also insisted on admitting students to the 50 per cent seats from the rank list prepared on the basis of the Common Entrance Test conducted by the Commissioner. The selection process of the managements was not transparent and not on the basis of merit, he submitted.

The senior counsel for the colleges, Rajeev Dhawan, contended that the amount collected was only a security amount, considering the possibilities of the candidates being dropped out of the colleges. He pointed out that in term of the Supreme Court Judgment in the T.M.A. Pai Foundation case, unaided institutions were autonomous institutions and the Government could not control these institutions. So, they were entitled to admit candidates of their choice. He also said that 25 per cent of the seats allotted to the Government by the Bench could be filled by weaker section candidates. What the Government now wanted was 25 per cent-plus seats.

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