Puducherry: Several students’ and parents’ forums have urged the Puducherry government and the Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) to clarify whether they have received the necessary approval from the National Medical Commission (NMC) for the admission of 460 students into the MBBS programme in colleges in the Union territory after the deadline (September 30). The commission fixed the deadline as per Supreme Court direction.
However, Centac conducted the second and third rounds of counselling after the deadline and admitted 460 students into the MBBS programme in the lone government medical college and three private medical college hospitals.
The NMC issued show-cause notices to Centac and four colleges, including the government college, to explain why action should not be taken against them for the conduct of MBBS counselling for 2023 after September 30.
In its notice dated October 20, the NMC directed the government to submit a written clarification within 10 days from the receipt of the notice. Centac and four colleges have furnished their replies requesting the commission to grant an extension of the deadline.
Meanwhile, the Union health and family welfare ministry extended the deadline for MBBS admission to November 15 to prevent precious medical seats from going vacant throughout the country.
The ministry received permission from the Supreme Court to hold a special stray vacancy round to fill vacant MBBS/ BDS/ BSc (Nursing) seats of all India quota (AIQ) and state quotas. The ministry, however, declared that the special stray vacancy round will would the last round for undergraduate courses for the present academic year 2023.
But the ministry and NMC have so far not taken a call on the Puducherry government’s plea for granting approval for MBBS admission done after the deadline.
The representatives of various forums have now questioned whether Centac will hold a special stray vacancy round to fill 460 seats, which have been allotted during the second and third rounds of counselling done after the deadline along with 11 vacant seats after the third round.
