M A I N   N E W S

Baba Farid varsity to hold PMET
Private colleges told to have SC/ST quota
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 28
The Punjab Government has decided that the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, will again conduct the Punjab pre-medical entrance test (PMET) despite last year's fiasco.

The state had faced a major embarrassment when question papers of the PMET leaked out just days before the examination in June last year. It had led to the removal of the then Vice-Chancellor, Dr J.S. Gujral.

Government functionaries explained that it was initially suggested to hold the test under the aegis of some other university after the last year's fiasco. But later it was opined that the leakage of a question paper could occur even if the test was conducted by any other university. So it was decided to conduct the PMT as usual and make no changes, confirmed official sources to The Tribune.

Earlier, the test was conducted on a rotational basis by universities in the state. However, after the BFUHS was set up, the system was stopped.

Following the question paper leak, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau held an inquiry and reported in September last year that the Vice-Chancellor, Dr J.S. Gujral, was not directly involved in the leak. However, his personal staff was directly involved in the scam.

The Vigilance Bureau had also pointed out in its report that there has been a trend of leaking of question papers from the university ever since it started conducting the PMT in 2002.

Also the Punjab Government has conveyed to the private medical colleges in the state that the quota for the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as applicable to government institutions, has to made available in private colleges also.

A communiqué in this regard has been sent to all medical colleges along with information on fee structure and seats for NRI students for the forthcoming academic session.

Meanwhile, the government has conveyed the provisional fee structure to the colleges. This is the same as decided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the last academic session.

The government will soon issue a notice in newspapers, seeking opinion of students, parents and managements of colleges on the fee structure. A final fee schedule will be decided after inviting objections and seeking suggestions, said a senior functionary.

The fixing of a fee schedule along with the number of seats for NRI students has come after the Punjab Assembly passed the Regulation of Admission, Fixation of fee and Making of Reservation) Act, 2006.