PG admission: HC seeks 4 Pondy medical colleges' replies

The Madras High Court today asked four medical colleges affiliated to deemed universities in Puducherry to file an affidavit citing reasons for refusing admissions to students under the state quota, despite its June 16 order.
A bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Bhavani Subbaroyan directed the medical colleges in the Union Territory and CENTAC (Centralised Admission Committee) to file their replies byJuly 3, on the contempt plea by one V B R Menon in connection with admissions to Post Graduate medical courses in the union territory
The issue pertains to the PIL alleging that the deemed universities were refusing to admit students through common counselling in the state quota and were demanding fees of Rs 40 to 50 lakh as against Rs 5.5 lakh fixed by the statutory fee committee for self-financing colleges.

Admitting the plea, the bench headed by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee had passed an interim order on June 16 directing the universities to admit candidates provisionally selected for admission to PG medical courses through common counselling by taking Rs 10 lakh as fee.
When the matter came up today, the petitioner alleged that the universities have failed to obey the interim order and sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the managements of the colleges concerned.
The petitioner also alleged that the actual list of students admitted by the respective colleges would show that the colleges hadactually admittedstudents with lower NEET scores as well as those who have not undergone the common counselling in places of those issued provisional admissions byCENTAC.

Hence, seats allotted to students as per the CENTAC list, based on merit and common counsellingon various dates had illegally been divertedby the colleges to less meritorious students in gross violation to the statutory provisions, he said.
The petitioner sought punishment for the universities for wilful disobedience of the court order and for causing mental agony to the affected students.