E-Paper
MBBS, BDS admissions: State to miss MCI deadline as apex court adjourns hearing
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on a special leave petition filed by the state government challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court order to
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on a special leave petition filed by the state government challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court order to provide 1% micro reservation in all private medical and dental colleges in the state to August 27.
With this, the state is likely to miss the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) August 31 deadline to complete the admission process in the state. The counselling for MBBS and BDS courses being conducted by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, is on hold for more than a month.
While the state is yet to conduct the first round of counselling to fill 2,373 MBBS and BDS seats in eight medical and 15 dental colleges, the classes for the 2019 academic session have already started in neighbouring states.
State government’s counsel Uttara Babbar said the matter regarding micro reservation in private medical colleges will be heard on Tuesday. “The apex court would pronounce the judgment the same day,” she added.
A medical education department official privy with the development said the adjournment will further delay the counselling for MBBS and BDS admissions.
“The counselling for admissions has to be extended to September as little time will be left even if the court pronounces judgment on August 27. The department will inform the MCI regarding the delay due to court proceedings,” the official said.
On August 10, the state government filed a special leave petition in the SC challenging the high court’s July 26 judgment. On August 19, the SC put a stay on the Punjab and Haryana high court order to provide 1% micro-reservation in all the private medical and dental colleges in the state.
On July 26, the high court had held that micro-reservation of 1% in MBBS and BDS courses for children/grandchildren of persons affected by terror and anti-Sikh riots will be applicable to state quota as well as management quota in all private unaided non-minority medical/dental institutions. The court also held that under the sports quota in government colleges, the reservation would be 3% and not 1% as notified by the government.
“It is unfortunate that the MBBS and BDS admission process is getting delayed. The classes for MBBS first batch of Bathinda AIIMS are set to begin on Monday. We had planned to start the classes for AIIMS and Guru Gobind Singh Medical College students at the same time as they have one campus. But due to legal tangle, it would not be possible now,” said BFUHS vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur.
