Controversies continue to mar the CENTAC counselling for PG courses in Puducherry. While counselling for PG courses in Dental colleges began on May 2, common counselling for PG seats for Medicine will be held on May 4 and 5.
Puducherry UT All CENTAC Students Parents Association alleged that the CENTAC has not followed the reservation criteria for PG courses in government dental college.
A candidate, who appeared for counselling on Tuesday, complained that while the tentative list had reserved one seat for the Schedule Caste, one for Most Backward category and three for General category, the final list changed. “In the final list, four seats have been allotted to general category, one for OBC and another one for MBC. They have removed the reservation for SC in the government dental college. Did they follow the rule while removing the seat allotted for SC category? This is completely against the law,” the candidate alleged.
The candidate stated that they are going to the court for justice. “When questioned the CENTAC officials, they said that they had moved the seat reserved for SC to a private college as per the roster system. We don’t know what roster system they are following. The fee for PG dental courses in private colleges is very high which we cannot afford,” the candidate noted.
Director of Health K.V. Raman said that they had given the list of total number of seats for PG courses to the CENTAC. “The pattern of allotment of seats to the government and private colleges is done by CENTAC. The allotment was put up before the counselling date and not after. It would be wrong only if the list was published after the counselling. They must have followed the roster system in the allocation of seats,” he said.
When asked Minister for Health Malladi Krishna Rao, he said that the seat should have been allotted in the first place. However, a senior official in CENTAC added that the roster system was followed and every seventh seat was allotted to SCs. However, none of the three seats were in the Government Dental College which had only six seats.
Fee Structure not clear
M. Narayanassamy, president, Puducherry UT All CENTAC Students Parents Association, alleged that the government had been lackadaisical in finalising and notifying the fee structure as directed by the Supreme Court. “The fee details for all the seats and the category wise split up of seats have not been mentioned yet in the website of CENTAC.
This has created a lot of confusion in the minds of students and parents. Even if seats are allotted to students, they do not know the fee that is going to be demanded by the college,” he said.
Pointing out that CENTAC had come under fire for lack of transparency in the 2016-17 counselling for MBBS admissions, he said, “It will be better if CENTAC conducts this year’s counselling in a fair and transparent manner keeping in mind the welfare of the young doctors of Puducherry and not in favour of the private medical colleges. The Puducherry Government should conduct common counselling for all the seats in all colleges and not just for 50 per cent seats. The MCI has clarified its stand that counseling should be done for all the 100 per cent seats through a State government agency and not just for government allotted seats. This will lead to discharging of the students by the MCI even if they are admitted,” he said.
‘Publish candidate list’
The Association demanded that the list of all the applied candidates for PG candidates in all the private colleges and deemed universities should be published immediately in the website so as to have transparency in the admission process.
The Puducherry Government Medical Officers Association has submitted memorandum to the government requesting to provide incentive marks for rural services as per the judgement of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.
A member of the association stated that the court upheld regulations 9(iv) and 9(vii) of the Medical Council of India’s PG Medical Education Regulations, 2000 which states that additional marks be given to those who serve in the remote areas. “The individual state or Union Territories should define the remote and difficult area considering the factual situation prevailing therein with specific reference to the fact where it is difficult for the State to provide health care services,” the member said.
The Association said that the government has not yet notified what a remote area is and has not prepared the merit list based on this. “Despite several requests, the government has not considered it,” the said.
