Allows 350 admissions
In a major victory for the striking medical students, Jharkhand High Court on Friday stayed the order of the Government of India as well as the Medical Council of India (MCI) by which the seats in the three medical colleges in the State - RIMS, MGM, Jamshedpur and PMCH, Dhanbad - were slashed to 190 from 350 seats.
A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice D N Patel, hearing a bunch of petitions, directed the authorities to take admissions for 350 seats and asked the MCI and the Central Government to file reply by September 3. The court, however, said that these admissions will be subject to the final outcome of the petitions.
The directive came after a day-long hearing by the court. Social activist Prem Kataruka and Shreya Kashyap, a medical student, had challenged the seat slash directive given to the state by the Union health ministry on Medical Council of India (MCI) recommendations. Health Secretary B K Tripathy was also present in the court.
The court was informed by the petitioners that the MCI had not reduced the number of seats in government-run medical colleges of as many as 13 states based on undertakings given by the respective states to adhere to guidelines and recommendations of the MCI in running the institution.
The court observed that Jharkhand has been discriminated by the MCI in taking such a decision without giving an opportunity to the State government to give an undertaking to remove the infrastructural deficiencies in the three medical colleges.
The MCI decision had created a furore in the State with the students going on indefinite strike. Several political parties, including the BJP, JVM had sought Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to get justice for the students.
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda had also written a letter to the minister pleading not to slash the seats. Also, BJP national vice-president Raghubar Das met Harsh Vardhan in Delhi yesterday making a similar plea.
"It is possible that the colleges might fall short to fulfil the set parameters, but it is not so that they cannot be corrected in a given time-frame. Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) does not lack infrastructure and the other two colleges can also be improved as per the set parameters though special campaign.