One in every two students applying for medical and dental seats in Maharashtra is not from the state. Angry with the state’s decision to relax norms and allow non-domicile students to apply for medical seats, medical aspirants and their parents from Maharashtra filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) figures show that the number of registrations of students who have cleared both class 10 and 12 from the state is 49,768, whereas those who have only cleared Class 12 is 48,977.
Explaining why the Class 12 numbers were high, a parent said “Many students come to Mumbai to prepare for medical entrance exams and appear for Class 12 exams in Maharashtra after sitting Class 10 exams in their respective states.” He was of the opinion that they should not be given the advantage meant for children with state domicile.
On July 7, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court relaxed domicile norms for medical and dental aspirants in the state. Originally, those who had cleared class 10 and 12 from the state or had a domicile certificate – a document showing that the student had lived in the state for the required number of years – were eligible for state quota seats. Now the rule making Class 10 compulsory has been dropped. “Those who have cleared Class 12I from Maharashtra, even without Class 10 from the state, will be eligible for state quota seats from now,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, director of DMER.
Commenting on the move another parent said “Earlier this year SC was very clear that no more cases on medical and dental admissions should be entertained by High Courts till admissions are over. How can the Aurangabad bench allow such changes to the admission process while the registrations are on?”
DMER’s decision to announce a revised provisional state merit list before the first seat allocation list for state quota seats has brought some relief to the parents and students. “We hope the SC will support our stand before the first seat allotment list is released,” one of them said.
While the petition is up for hearing in SC this week, the first seat allotment list for admissions to state quota seats in government-run and private medical and dental institutes in the state will be released on July 25.
[“source-hindustantimes”]