In addition to the 20 already cleared by MCI, MMC recognised institutes to have 194 extra seats
The state government on Wednesday informed the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court that 194 seats in Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC)-recognised institutes will be opened to students in addition to the 20 seats cleared by the Medical Council of India (MCI). This provides for 214 seats more in the PG medical courses, the admissions for which close on May 31.
In a PIL filed by People’s Health Organisation, an NGO, the court’s attention was drawn towards the dwindling number of seats in the PG medical courses. The PIL urged the court to direct the state government to open the 242 seats in MMC recognised courses that were closed after the government issued a circular on April 4. Counsel for the petitioners, Sanjay Jain and Ajay Panicker, contended that 411 admissions have been granted in the PG courses and if the government withdraws in circular, more seats will be created.
Assistant government pleader MD Naik told the court that the government was in a position to open 194 seats in MMC recognised colleges that were in the process of getting recognition from the MCI. The MCI had recognised 20 seats more after the grant on 411 admissions which will also be made available to the students now. Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice SS Shinde directed the state to issue a circular announcing the seats opened for admission and also making it clear that these are in institutes recognised by the MMC alone.
An affidavit submitted by Dr DS Kulkarni, joint director of medical education and research, states that of 35 non-recognised courses, the MCI had already inspected 23 and is expected to finish inspecting another 12 by the end of June. Kulkarni also told the court that some seats may be returned to the state quota from the centre’s quota by June 8, thereby creating more seats for PG medical course aspirants.
The PIL pointed out that the number has come down by 7% to 411 seats in 2008 as against 1,906 seats in 2001. Granting the interim relief, the court, however, adjourned the PIL till June 18 for hearing before a regular bench. Prior to the filing of the PIL, on April 16, resident doctors and interns across the state had protested against the shrinking number of seats in PG medical courses.
