The UT administration has expressed apprehension over the implementation of the recent reciprocal arrangement proposed by the Punjab government of allowing Chandigarh medical aspirants to be eligible for Punjab’s 85% state medical quota.
In its March 7 notification, the state government had said that a candidate who had passed his classes 10 and 12 from the union territory of Chandigarh would only be eligible for Punjab medical/dental colleges, provided the UT administration permitted Punjab students admission to MBBS/BDS courses in its own medical/dental colleges.
The Punjab government introduced the clause following the Punjab and Haryana high court judgment that asked the state government to make UT medical students eligible for its state quota in MBBS/BDS courses on the ground that Chandigarh was the capital of Punjab.
UT home secretary Anil Kumar told HT that the clause put by the state government “does not seem workable since it would only lead to enormous competition for the local students. Moreover, if we allow Punjab students to be eligible for Chandigarh Medical College, then we would also have to allow Haryana students”.
He said the UT would take stock of the situation after the Lok Sabha elections but it did not seem keen to go ahead with the arrangement.
Parent lobby in Chandigarh is, however, in favour of the arrangement. Secretary of Guardians of Medical Aspirants Dr UP Singh said both Punjab and Chandigarh were not thinking about the larger interest of the medical aspirants of the region. Punjab’s recent notification virtually rendered hundreds of medical aspirants ineligible for medical quota of Punjab as well as of Chandigarh.
{{/usCountry}}Parent lobby in Chandigarh is, however, in favour of the arrangement. Secretary of Guardians of Medical Aspirants Dr UP Singh said both Punjab and Chandigarh were not thinking about the larger interest of the medical aspirants of the region. Punjab’s recent notification virtually rendered hundreds of medical aspirants ineligible for medical quota of Punjab as well as of Chandigarh.
{{/usCountry}}“The issue of ineligibility of UT students can be settled permanently if the UT allows the reciprocal system. In contrary to the perception that it would affect the local students, it would rather give more opportunities to the city students in future,” he said.