In a rare show of political bipartisanship, the Assembly on Monday unanimously voted to send the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regularisation of Admission in Medical Colleges) Bill 2018 to the subject committee.
Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said unpardonable deceitfulness on the part of two avaricious private self-financing medical colleges had compelled the government to introduce the Bill.
Karuna Medical College, Palakkad, and Kannur Medical College, Anajarakandy, had admitted students in flagrant violation of norms that ensure equity and excellence in professional education.
The Admission Supervisory Committee had found that the institutions had not complied with the prohibition of capitation fee and fixation of a non-exploitive fee as guaranteed by law. It found the colleges had conducted admissions in an opaque manner and did not publish the number of vacant medical seats online. Consequently, the committee cancelled the admissions and the High Court and the Supreme Court upheld its decision.
For no fault of theirs, the decision imperilled the future of NEET qualified students who had gained admissions on merit.
The Minister said the greed and dishonesty of the management had ruined the admission process, driving many students and parents to the brink of suicide. It was against such a backdrop that the government had decided to make a one-off legislation to regularise their admission. The government did not want to set a legal precedent that would be exploited by felonious managements in the future to legitimise their lawbreaking by taking refuge behind the veil of student interest.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator K.N.A. Khader said the Bill should not help validate similar violations in the future. He doubted whether the Assembly had the Constitutional mandate to pass legislation that would annul the apex court’s decision cancelling the medical admissions. Mr Khader said the State should also examine whether the students who gained admission in the colleges in the management quota had the required merit. The State should bring the institutions to book for cheating students.
V.P. Sajeendran, E.K. Vijayan, Parakkal Abdullah and K.D. Presenan spoke.
