Terming the medical college admissions in the State as a disaster, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has accused the State government of colluding with the managements of self-financing medical colleges to help them loot the students.
At a news conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Chennithala alleged that the government had made a mess of the medical college admissions after delaying the process by more than a month even after the Kerala High Court had fixed the base fee of ₹5 lakh for 85% of merit seats. Thus the managements got ample time to approach the Supreme Court while the R. Rajendra Babu Admission Supervisory and Fee Regulatory Committee for Professional Colleges had not fixed the fee, he said.
The government had also failed to use the opportunity even after the Supreme Court had ratified National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and it also failed to explain to the Supreme Court that there were four types of fees ranging from ₹25,000 to ₹15 lakh last year.
He said the government had to do a lot of explanation on why its counsel in the apex court did not argue for a fee-structure benefiting the students. The Supreme Court had not been convinced about the lapse of the self- financing medical college managements in submitting documents. The government also showed reluctance to provide bank guarantee to the students, he alleged.
Right from the beginning it had been fumbling on the issue by promulgating ordinances thrice and issuing orders, revising and withdrawing them. If the allotment had been done in a proper manner, the students would not have had to face such a grave crisis.
Putting forth some demands, Mr. Chennithala urged the government to extend bank guarantee to the students and ensure that no eligible student was deprived of admission on account of the Supreme Court verdict. The government should also ensure that the management did not harass the students in the name of bank guarantee.
He sought the government to move a review petition in the Supreme Court against its interim order on the new fee structure and also welcomed the stance of Christian managements not to seek ₹6-lakh bank guarantee.