The Gujarat Government today informed the Assembly that it is mulling to take over the admission process for medical courses being conducted by Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, a 'Deemed to Be' University in Vadodara.
The admission process as well as determination of fees for MBBS course offered by the institute will be taken over by the state government following the arrest of it's president Mansukh Shah on February 28 in a bribery case. Shah at present is behind the bars, Health Minister Shankar Chaudhary informed the Assembly.
Shah along with two of his accomplices was arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau for allegedly demanding Rs 20 lakh from the parents of an MBBS student for allowing her to appear for the exams, state Health Minister Shankar Chaudhary informed the Assembly.
He was replying to a short call notice given by Congress MLA Punja Vansh today.
Chaudhary, who also handles medical education portfolio, admitted that Vidyapeeth management misused the law and charged exorbitant fees from medical aspirants.
He said the deemed to be universities are governed by the UGC and not by the state governments.
"This institute has been declared as a deemed to be university under section 3 of the UGC Act. Thus, state government does not have any control over it's affairs, including admissions and fixation of fees. Taking advantage of the UGC Act, this institute has charged students exorbitant fees" Chaudhary told the House.
He also added that the institute has flouted norms by giving admissions to several students having low merit.
When Vansh held state government responsible for not taming such institutes, the minister hit back saying the permission to Sumandeep Vidyapeeth was granted during the UPA rule.
"This institute was granted permission to operate as a deemed to be university during UPA rule in 2007 at the centre. If permission was denied at that time, many students from Gujarat could have been saved from falling prey to such open loot" said Chaudhary.
Giving assurance in the House, he stated that both UGC as well as the Centre have recently issued a guideline wherein the state governments have been asked to take over the admission process and also given fee determination powers for such deemed to be universities.
"Now, state government has been given powers to take control of issues pertaining to fees and admissions. With this, state government can now decide the fee structure. We are also mulling to bring that institute in the ambit of state government's common counselling process for medical admissions," added Chaudhary.
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