MUMBAI: Many medical aspirants who were allotted seats in private medical and dental colleges in the state were turned away on Thursday. This occurred a day after their association wrote to the government stating that they would be stalling admissions at their level. The state’s medical education department has called for an urgent meeting on Friday to convince the association members to withdraw their notice and resume the admission process.The state’s cet cell also issued a general notice to colleges, threatening them with legal action if they do not complete the admission process. Around 5,000 medical and dental students are in the fray for admissions in the second round, many of whom are also seeking an upgradation.
The second merit list for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses was released on September 30. On October 1, the Association of Managements of Unaided, Private Medical and Dental Colleges (AMUPMDC) gave a letter to the medical education minister, Hasan Mushrif, stating that they are stalling the process as their demands on the pending fee reimbursements from the government are not met. Since October 2 was a public holiday, most students went to their respective allotted colleges on Thursday to secure their seats but were turned away.
The CET cell, in the evening, issued a notice mentioning that they have received complaints from candidates over denied admissions. The notice read, ‘…this office has conducted the admissions as the colleges had willingly participated in the process by receiving affiliation from the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS). Hence, all colleges are informed to complete the admission process of allotted candidates as per the schedule, failing which legal action as per the provisions in the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Institutions Act, 2015, will be initiated and the concerned colleges will be recommended to MUHS. for further action’.
A parent whose child was allotted a seat in a private college in Navi Mumbai said that the college refused to complete the admission process. “They told us that they would not conduct admissions till they hear from their association,” said the parent, who was asked to seek an update on the phone. Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, said, “Some of the students claimed that they were from the open category and will be paying the fees, but the colleges told the students that they have stalled admissions to all seats.”
The association had met the minister on September 26. The association claimed that the pendency of reimbursement of fees against various scholarship schemes is running into crores of rupees, making it difficult for colleges to sustain. “There is no consolidated amount; some colleges have not received it for more than three to four years, some have not received it for 18 months. These scholarship amounts are reimbursed by various departments, and for the SC/ST scholarship scheme, part of the fees also comes from the centre. The government has failed to address our issues for a long time,” said a college trustee.
Medical education secretary Dinesh Waghmare said that colleges cannot stall the admission process for these reasons. “The association does not have any authority to stay the admission process. For the pending dues, the colleges should approach respective departments such as social justice, tribal development, Bahujan Kalyan, etc. We will be holding a meeting on Friday and are hoping to convince the association members to resume the process,” he said.
