The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : High Court urged to allow quota admissions made in dental colleges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

High Court urged to allow quota admissions made in dental colleges

Staff Reporter

`700 students will lose their seats if the norms of MCI are applied'

BANGALORE: The State Government has contended that 700 dental students admitted under government quota would stand to lose their seats if the norms of the Medical Council of India (MCI) on eligibility of candidates are applied to them.

In its appeal against the single judge order of August 17, 2005, the Government said that many dental seats would remain vacant if the MCI norms were applied to dental courses.

The State had filed the appeal on Saturday against the order of a single-judge who had upheld the Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations on admission of students to medical colleges. In all, 237 students stood to lose their admission.

In its appeal, the State Government and a student, Shruti G. Hunkunti, said the August 17 order had failed to note that as per its rules, the entrance test comprised both the qualifying examination (pre-university) and Common Entrance Test (CET). The students were ranked according to the aggregate of marks obtained in both the examinations.

Thus, if a student had secured 50 per cent of marks in both the tests put together, he would be eligible for admission. The Government said it had been following this procedure in determining the marks for more than 10 years now and was put into place after the Supreme Court verdict in the Unni Krishnan versus Andhra Pradesh case in 1993.

Moreover, admission for 2005-06 had been completed and classes commenced on August 1.

Of the 237 students affected, 211 belonged to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The State urged the court to allow the admissions to remain for this year as the academic year had already commenced and that it would be unfair to unseat the students now.

Moreover, the students had taken the examination test with clear instructions that the marks secured in the qualifying examination and the entrance test would together determine their relative merit.

CET stand

When the appeals came up on Monday, senior counsel B.V. Acharya commenced arguments on behalf of the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell.

Apart from the Government, the Common Entrance Test Cell and several students have appealed against the single judge order.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi and Justice N. Kumar adjourned further hearing on the appeals to September 1.

Fee structure

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi and Justice N. Kumar heard petitions by three students who had sought a direction from the managements to charge fees for 2004-05 as per the guidelines of the Fee Fixation Committee.

The students said they had paid Rs. 1.85 lakhs as fees under protest.

They wanted a direction that managements charge the fees as arrived at in the consensus agreement with the Government in 2004.

The Common Entrance Test Cell told the court that it had fixed fees of Rs. 1.72 lakhs per student for 2004-05. Thereafter, the managements and the State Government entered into a consensus and came up with a three-tier fee structure.

The Bench observed that the consensus had not been approved by the High Court. It wanted to know what would be the fees to be paid by the students for 2004-05 and whether it would be the one fixed by the committee or arrived at by a consensus.

The government advocate said the High Court had given a relief in fee structure to only those who had come before it. The Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) said they had agreed to a compromise on the fee structure after being compelled to do so by the State Government.

In its order, the Bench admitted the petition and said the matter needed detailed consideration.

As the dispute pertained to 2004-05, it directed the managements not to charge fees in excess of what had been fixed by the Fee Fixation Committee.

The Bench said that either of the parties would be at liberty to move the court after the Supreme Court decided the Special Leave Petition (SLP - Parents' Association of Karnataka MBBS Students versus the State of Karnataka) filed against a September 22, 2004 Division bench order of the Karnataka High Court.

The Bench adjourned further hearing of the matter.

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