The State government has been accused of ignoring an order of the Kerala State Commission for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) to follow course-wise reservation in the allocation of postgraduate medical seats in the State.
R. Muraleedharan, secretary, SC/ST Coordination Committee, Kerala, told The Hindu that the government had not responded to the order issued by panel chairman B.S. Mavoji on January 31. It was Mr. Muraleedharan and functionaries of the Kozhikode-based Dalit Doctors’ Association who had petitioned against the ongoing system of allocation based on the total number of seats.
They claimed that the government had apportioned 64% of courses in clinical subjects and 36% of courses in non-clinical subjects. In 2016, there were 193 seats in the former and 74 in the latter. The system of wrong calculation led to a loss of 8% of seats in clinical subjects to candidates belonging to the marginalised communities.
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Of the total seats in both subjects, candidates from SC communities are eligible for 8% and those from the ST communities are eligible for 2% of quota. The petitioners said that the system of allotment of seats among the courses in a “fictitious rotation basis” resulted in loss of eligible reservation seats in courses such as MD (General Medicine) and MS (General Surgery).
They pointed out that seats were being deducted for persons with disabilities and ex-servicemen too. They alleged that the present system was meant to eliminate SC/ST candidates from superspecialty streams.
In the order, the commission pointed out that the restriction in reservation in certain clinical subjects alone was not only arbitrary but also unfair to those candidates aspiring to join courses in non-clinical and clinical subjects.
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The practice of rotation of seats among courses also did not follow any law or rule. “Candidates from the SC/ST communities are eligible to get 8% and 2% respectively of the total seats in each course. As per the prospectus for 2018, of the 16 clinical courses, the candidates were eligible for at least one seat each in 10 courses (three in MD General Medicine, three in MS General Surgery, and two in MD Paediatrics) and out of nine courses in non-clinical subjects, one seat in Pathology,” the order said. If seats were not allocated in a year, it could be carried forward. The deduction of seats for people with disabilities and ex-servicemen too were done without any authority, the commission added.