In a decision which would end the anxiety of the students who had cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions in medical colleges, the Uttarakhand High Court (HC) on Monday ordered the private medical colleges of the State to provide immediate admission to the students who have been allotted seats by the centralised counselling. The court has ordered that the decision of the State Government on NEET admissions would prevail till a final decision is made on the matter. One Anchal Kandapal a NEET qualifier had filed a writ petition in HC in which she has said that Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences Jollygrant has not given admission to her. The single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari directed the medical college to grant immediate admission to the student. Following the orders of the court, the Additional Chief Secretary Om Prakash directed the medical education director to ensure that the students are granted admissions in the colleges after allotment of seats by centralised counselling board. The students would also have to submit an affidavit that the final decision by the fees regulatory committee or High Court would be binding.
In an another judgement related to NEET admissions, the bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia of HC has directed the Guru Ram Rai Medical college to grant admission in 50 percent of its seats under state quota and rest 50 percent in the management quota. The college had challenged the decision to increase the state quota seats by the state government from 25 percent to 50 percent. The court has also asked the state government to file its reply within three weeks.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences and Guru Ram Rai medical college have refused to grant admissions to the students till the issue of fees is settled. Monday (July 31) was the last date of admissions for first phase of counselling. Both these colleges have 150 seats each with 75 seats reserved for the students of Uttarakhand under state quota. These two private colleges want that the fee should be increased to Rs 19 lakh per year. At present the annual fees for the MBBS course in these colegs is Rs 5.5 lakh per year.
In the admission to the medical colleges of the state the designated centralized counselling board released the merit list consisting of 8674 candidates on July 22 and the students were allotted seats in different colleges on July 24. The second session of counselling would start on August 08.