MCI cuts mgmt quota at Markandeshwar college

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 29

In a major blow to Maharshi Markandeshwar Medical College (MMMC), Kumarhatti, Solan, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has reduced its management quota seats for MBBS course for 2015-16 from 75 to 42 seats.

The 33 seats had been filled in excess of the management quota last year and consequently, the state quota was reduced. The MCI has now stated that the excess seats be added to the state quota this year.

The MCI has intimated Maharshi Markandeshwar Medical College (MMMC) and the state government about its decision and asked them to comply with the directions.

The MCI had approved admission to 150 seats for the third MBBS batch, of which the state quota was 75 seats and the management quota, including NRI quota, was 75 seats.

With the directions of the MCI, the number of seats under the state quota would increase from 75 to 108 while the NRI quota of the medical college, calculated on the basis of 42 management quota seats, would be six.

The MMMC had already been feeling the heat of the decision of the government to fill both state and management quota seats through centralised counselling, to be conducted by the Director of Medical Education and Research on the basis of AIPMT merit.

The decision was upheld by the High Court, which rejected the plea of the MMMC to conduct its own test. In spite of the High Court judgement, the MMMC had not linked with centralised counselling, which was currently in progress.

The Registrar informed the government that it would not accept the NRI quota specified for 2015-16. The medical college is not affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), which was a precondition in the essentiality certificate.

The government introduced the Himachal Pradesh Private Medical Educational Institutions (Regulation and of Admissions and Fixation of Fee) Amendment Bill, 2015, seeking to vest exclusive powers to affiliate private medical education institutions to the HPU.

The amendment would be applicable to all private medical institutions, including medical and dental colleges, and seeking affiliation from HPU would be mandatory. However, HPU sources said the MMMC had not sought affiliation from the university so far and the HPU had no control over the medical college.

The MMMC has been claiming all along that it is a consequent college of Maharishi Markandeshwar University. As per the Act, private universities are not authorised to get any college affiliated..

Further, there is no management quota in private universities and only 25 seats are reserved for Himachalis. As such, the management quota availed by the college in the past for “consequent college” would come under the scanner.

The government has fixed an exorbitant fee of Rs 9 lakh per annum under the management quota while the fee under the NRI quota for the course is $1.25 lakh.

The annual fee for seats under the state quota is Rs 5 lakh per annum, exclusive of other charges, which is unaffordable for parents of a middle-class family.