Medical colleges flout admission norms

HYDERABAD: Aspirants to medical education in the state are facing difficulties as no private or no private minority medical college is  following government guidelines on filling the management quota seats with eligible meritorious students.The C-category seats in private colleges and B-category seats in minority colleges should be filled according to state government guidelines and must collect the fee stipulated by the admission and fee regulatory committee.The college managements have to issue a notification and candidates willing to pay the stipulated fee should only apply. The colleges should prepare a merit list on the basis of candidates’ marks in Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology in their 10+2 examination. The colleges should make admissions on the basis of merit list and the list must be approved by the NTR Health University.According to guidelines, the managements shall not charge any capitation fee and there shall not be any profiteering.Medical Courses Strivers and Parents Association president Nomula Jagadishwar says colleges are selling seats at a huge premium of anywhere between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 70 lakh (the total course fee) in violation of norms. The managements are not filling the seats on the basis of merit and as a result injustice was being done to the meritorious students.There are 19 private and four minority medical colleges in the state which have 2,550 and 500 MBBS seats respectively. Eamcet convener will fill 50 per cent (A-category) seats in private colleges with Rs 60,000 per annum as tuition fee and 10 per cent (B-category) seats with Rs 2.4 lakh fee.The remaining 40 per cent ( C-category) seats are filled by the managements by collecting a tuition fee of Rs 5.5 lakh a year tuition fee under the management quota.The four private minority colleges have 500 seats together. Though all the seats are filled by the managements, there are certain guidelines to fill them. The seats in these colleges have been divided into two categories. The managements should collect only Rs 60,000 per annum from minority students for A-category (60 pc seats).The seats must be filled only with Eamcet merit minority students. For the remaining 40 per cent (B-category), they should collect Rs 6 lakh per annum.Considering the huge demand and intense competition, the private and minority colleges are cashing in on the situation and selling the seats for a huge sum.A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the High Court recently seeking a stay on admissions to management quota seats for MBBS and BDS courses for academic year 2012-13. The petitioner, VARK Prasad, president of Save Merit Society of the city, said the managements of private medical colleges were selling seats in the open market for huge considerations ranging between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 70 lakh for each seat without following the directions issued by the High Court or the guidelines prescribed by the government under GO 136 dated April 30, 2007.The NTR University of Health Sciences, the supervising authority, had neither initiated steps nor issued guidelines in accordance with the court’s decision, he said. The number of meritorious students securing more than 90 percent marks in biology, physics and chemistry had lost an opportunity to get admission to pursue MBBS course during 2011-12, he said.Speaking to Express, special chief secretary (health) G Sudhir said  they received some complainants of violation and were looking into them.