Mumbai: At least three private medical colleges have moved court against the state govt’s decision to do away with the institutional round of counselling for MBBS and MD/MS in the state.
Palghar’s Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences, Karjat’s Dr NY Tasgaonkar Institute of Medical Sciences, and Parbhani Medical College have moved court claiming that the decision amounts to an infringement of rights guaranteed to private medical colleges by the landmark Supreme Court judgement in the TMA Pai v/s State of Karnataka case.
There is no arrangement offered by the state govt if the seats remain unfilled, said Adv Madhav Thorat, who is representing the two MMR colleges. “The colleges do not get any aid from the govt and if seats are not filled, it remains unfilled. How do colleges pay the teachers and also maintain a strong student-teacher ratio?” he asked. Institutional rounds are conducted at institute level to fill in seats that remain vacant after the regular rounds.
Following several complaints about the manner in which institutional rounds are conducted in private medical colleges, the state govt, to bring in more transparency, had decided to do away with itthem this year. The decision brought the counselling process for 100% seats in private medical colleges under the purview of the state’s CET cell.
The state govt has been trying to conduct the institutional round for the last three years, on the guidelines of the National Medical Commission (NMC), but has been unable to due to the court orders. This year, the guidelines have been formulated.
