MBBS, BDS admissions begin today; parents cry foul as plea still before HC

PATIALA: Even as a petition seeking quashing of last month’s Punjab Medical Entrance Exam (PMET) is pending in the high court, Faridkot’s Baba Farid University of Health Sciences begins the admission process for MBBS and BDS courses on Wednesday.

The university has invited applications from eligible candidates to submit their preferences for college and category (MBBS or BDS) online between July 6 and 11. The varsity was issued a notice by Punjab and Haryana high court on the petition seeking quashing of the PMET and asked to reply by July 11. Parents of the students are contemplating filing a fresh petition in the high court for a stay on the counselling and revision of the procedure adopted by the university for finalising the results.

Sunita Madan, mother of a PMET-pass candidate, told HT that they couldn’t file the petition on Tuesday due to lawyers’ strike in the high court. “We will file it on Wednesday. We want transparency,” she said. She said the method adopted by the varsity to calculate percentile was in contravention with the standard formula.

As per the varsity’s public notice, the said process is for admission to state quota for MBBS and BDS courses (except NRI seats) in government medical colleges and for 50% government quota seats in the private colleges. The management quota seats in private colleges will be filled on the basis of the merit list of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).

“The university will conduct counselling for the rest seats once the NEET result is out,” varsity notice said. The admission to NRI seats will be held separately through a test scheduled for August 9. As many as 15% all India quota seats will be filled through central counselling after NEET results.

Ashok Sharma, counsel for the petitioners seeking quashing of the PMET, said he will seek a stay on the counselling process. “Its announcement is inappropriate because students’ grievances have not yet been redressed,” Sharma said. LESS MBBS SEATS IN PRIVATE COLLEGES Although the varsity has asked over 3,000 candidates (those who passed the PMET-2016) to list preference for colleges, seats available in the private colleges have come down.

Punjab Institute of Medical Science (PIMS), Jalandhar, and Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot, are out of consideration as the institutes have been denied permission to admit MBBS students.

The Centre has, at least, increased 50 MBBS seats at the Amritsar’s Government Medical College. The number of seats available for MBBS and BDS courses will be known after their allocation on July 15.