Punjab quashes govt quota in 3 pvt colleges

THE MOVE HAS COME AS A SETBACK FOR MBBS ASPIRANTS WHO WILL HAVE TO SHELL OUT A HEFTY FEE

FARIDKOT: The Punjab government has decided to quash the government quota in MBBS seats in three private medical colleges.

Additional chief secretary, Satish Chandra who has the charge of DMER, confirmed the development. “The state government has decided to quash the quota in Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College, Amritsar and Christian Medical College, Ludhiana.”

The move, which means that these colleges can now fix their own fees structure, has come as a setback for MBBS aspirants who will have to shell out a hefty fee. The state government, in a notification in February this year, had said that 50% of MBSS seats in all private medical colleges would be filled under government quota and there would be a cap on fee.

Adesh and Sri Guru Ram Das medical colleges have challenged the notification, with the next hearing in the Punjab and Haryana high court on July 10.

With the government now meeting the demands of these three private medical colleges, the counselling process--- that was stalled till now — has started for all 1,025 MBBS seats in state’s eight colleges, including five private. The Baba Farid University of Health Sciences has released the seat matrix of all eight colleges and the students can now fill their preferences.

In their prospectuses, both Adesh and Guru Ram Das medical colleges had already announced that they won’t retain the government quota seats this time. Both these colleges earlier had 150 seats each, of which 50% belonged to government quota. Of 75 CMC seats, 32 belonged to government quota.

As of now, Adesh has listed its fee as ₹11.9 lakh per annum with 10% increase every year.