by Moiz Mannan
Each admission season throws up new problems for non-resident Indians wishing to admit their children to institutions offering professional courses in India. If it’s not the uncertainty over fees then there are question marks over the entrance tests. Conflicting and confusing policies and wayward instructions from the authorities and constantly changing stands of college managements are compounded by a plethora of court rulings.
As if that were not enough, now there is a court case regarding MBBS admissions that places a question mark on the very criteria defining an NRI.
As per a Supreme Court ruling of 2009, a private medical college can fill 15 percent seats with NRI quota, 43 percent seats through their own examination procedure while the rest 42 percent seats are to be filled in by state PMT. There are instances where college managements have carved out this 15 percent from the 43 percent allotted to them (management seats or payment seats) rather than the total number of seats available for the course.
Now, there are reports from Ahmedabad saying that the Gujarat High Court has directed the state government to come up with the norms for admission in NRI quota in the light of a case where the definition of ‘NRI’ came into question.
A division bench has quashed the order of a single-judge bench which said that only those students, whose parents/guardians or sponsors are the Non-Resident Indian, are eligible for NRI quota in the medical courses. The definition is based on the Income Tax Act and FEMA.
Reversing the judgement, the division bench has upheld the merit list prepared by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run NHL Medical college. The single-judge bench had held that only those students are eligible in the NRI quota, whose parents/guardians or sponsors are NRIs. Even those students, who themselves are NRIs, would not be eligible for the NRI quota, if their parents or guardians are not NRIs. This order came in response to a petition filed by an aspirant for a post-graduate medical course who questioned the admission criteria and the merit list prepared by the medical college.
There were complaints that the merit list mentioned many students whose sponsors and parents were not genuine NRIs. According to media reports, the single judge asked NHL medical college to verify the documents and only retain those students whose benefactors are NRIs.
Meanwhile, in Chandigarh a surprising decision threatens to set a confusing precedent. The Government Medical College and Hospital has carved out a quota for Scheduled Castes from the NRI quota. The college was recently reported to have issued a notification stating that one out of the six NRI quota seats will be filled by an SC category NRI.
What is surprising was that it was also mentioned that in case the NRI-SC seat remains vacant, it will be filled by an SC candidate who is a resident of the union territory and would not go back to the NRI quota. Interestingly, the seat was created on June 20, after the final deadline (June 17) for submission of any application. According to experts, it is illegal. NRI parents propose to go to court against the move.
In Kerala, a proposal to create an NRI quota in the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), was shot down by opposition members in the state assembly. The move to introduce the quota was made by Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan, but ran into stiff opposition and was ultimately withdrawn.
The newly-formed Telangana too is grappling with a controversy over the process of NRI admissions to medical colleges. Last week, the state government turned down a demand from college managements to conduct a special entrance examination for medical colleges to fill up 25 percent management quota seats and 15 percent NRI quota seats. Another round of talks is likely to be held with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
In Kerala too, the Admission Supervisory Committee for Professional Colleges has turned down the proposal of six member colleges under Kerala Private Medical College Management Association (KPMCMA) to conduct a separate entrance examination for admitting students to 85 percent of their seats.
The Peninsula
