HC notice to govt, BFUHS on quota

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday put Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, and the Punjab government on notice on a petition challenging reservation notified by the university for MBBS course admissions to government and private colleges in the state. The BFUHS is conducting counselling for government and private medical colleges in Punjab with over 1,000 seats.

The court was told that 1% quota for sportspersons and children/grandchildren of Sikh riotaffected persons has neither been included in the government quota seats (50% quota) nor in management quota (50% quota) in private medical colleges.

The petitioner also demanded that seat distribution roster prepared by the BFUHS be quashed as the system devised last year, have not been followed by the university. The court was also told that NRI quota seats in Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot’s Kotakpura exceeds 15% quota as prescribed in the notification of the Punjab government issued on February 6, 2018, which puts candidates of other categories to disadvantage.

They demanded the university be directed to give 1% quota to sportspersons and wards of Sikh riot-hit persons in private colleges. The government notification does not differentiate between the reservation ought to be given in government colleges and private medical colleges, however, the state has illegally denied the quota/reservation to the categories to which the petitioners belong, the court was told.

The court was told that in 2017, 23 left out seats were filled by the government without following the roster system and the BFUHS is following the wrong roaster this year too. It has resulted in decrease of one seat each to candidates of sportspersons and wards of riot-hit family. “The university is filling MBBS seats at its own whims and has failed to follow the notifications or its own prospectus while distributing MBBS seats among the different colleges,” the court was told.