Calcutta, November 06, 2004
The Telegraph
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the applications of medical students
admitted through the NRI quota, and said, for the moment, the quota
reserved for NRI students in medical colleges has been limited to 15
per cent of the total number of seats.
According to a copy of the record of the proceedings at the apex court,
Justice Y.K. Sabharmal and Justice Tarun Chatterjee observed: “By
the impugned judgement, the high court has quashed the NRI/NRI-sponsored
quota. In two colleges where the total intake of students is 200, 104
students have been admitted under NRI quota, which accounts for more
than 50 per cent admissions.”
Justice Sabharmal and Justice Chatterjee further observed that: “Regarding
the interim arrangement to be made, we are of the view that no case
has been made out to grant complete stay of the impugned judgement of
the high court… However, having regard to the facts and circumstances
of the case, we permit admission to NRI students in those two colleges
to the extent of 15 per cent of the seats, that is, 15 students in each
of the colleges, out of the 104 candidates who have been granted admission.
To this extent, on merits, the admission of 30 students in all can continue
subject to further orders that may be passed while disposing of the
matter.”
The interim arrangement brings the axe down on 74 of the 104 students
already admitted to the MBBS course at two colleges, while at the same
time offering some hope to all those candidates who had successfully
cleared the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE).
The apex court’s directive comes as a major embarrassment for
the state government, which had been trying to admit students into the
newly-set up Midnapore and SSKM medical colleges through the NRI quota
by imposing a capitation fee of over Rs 9 lakh per candidate. The government
will have to return over Rs 6 crore to those candidates who will not
retain their NRI quota seats.
Delhi-based advocate Ghanshyam Joshi, on behalf of the respondents,
sent a missive on Friday to the principal secretary of the state government,
the chairperson of the central selection committee (medical), and the
director of medical education, informing them of the development. “The
interim applications for clarification … and/or recalling the earlier
order dated October 29, 2004, were dismissed by the Supreme Court of
India,” the message reads.
The 104 students, screened from 1,300 through an entrance test, had
forked out Rs 9.24 lakh each for an MBBS seat under the NRI quota at
SSKM Hospital or the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital.
On September 29, however, Calcutta High Court nullified the entire
process, instructing that the seats be allocated to successful JEE candidates
of that year.