On Day 1, MBBS counselling fails to take off

GOVT FAILS TO CLARIFY ON SEAT DISTRIBUTION AND FEE IN THREE PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGES

FARIDKOT: With the state’s department of medical education and research failing to release the seat distribution and fee structure for MBBS admission till Friday late evening, Baba Farid University for Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, the nodal agency, did not start the first round of scheduled counselling.

BFUHS had uploaded the merit list on its website, but MBBS seats and fee in three private medical colleges including Adesh Medical College, Bathinda, Guru Ram Das Medical College, Amritsar and Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, are not uploaded.

THE CONTROVERSY

In the latest prospectuses, Adesh Medical College, Bathinda and Guru Ram Das Medical College and Hospital, Amritsar, have announced that they will not retain government quota seats.

In direct contract with this stand is a February notification of the DMER announcing that 50% of seats in all private medical colleges would be government quota, meaning the fee will be lower. As of now, Adesh has shown its fee as ₹11.9 lakh with 10% increase each year. The Amritsar college has declared its fee at ₹6.6 lakh. The government quota fee is ₹2.2 lakh per year. Both the colleges, have challenged the notification, with the next hearing in the Punjab and Haryana high court on July 10.

BFUHS vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur said, “We are prepared for counselling. We await for a decision from the government.” Additional chief secretary Satish Chandra, who has the charge of DMER, said, “We will seek legal opinion from the office of the advocate general.”