Nagpur: A major controversy has broken out over the ongoing MBBS admission process in Maharashtra, after a students’ body alleged that the quota for backward class candidates in private and unaided medical colleges has been curtailed from 50% to 25%. The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has confirmed the reduction, citing a 2006 state government notification.
The Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar National Students Federation, based in Nagpur, has accused the Medical Education and Drugs Department of illegally cutting reserved seats by half. The body claims that this move has cost 766 aspirants from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Vimukta Jatis (VJ), Nomadic Tribes (NT), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) their rightful MBBS admissions this year. A memorandum has already been submitted to the SC/ST Commission demanding immediate intervention.
“Maharashtra has 23 private unaided medical colleges with an intake of 3,219 MBBS seats. As per constitutional provisions, 1,533 seats should have been reserved for backward communities. Shockingly, only 767 were allotted,” said Dr. Siddhant Bharne, president of the federation. He further broke down the figures, pointing out that SC students (13%) should have received 398 seats but were given 199, STs (7%) were entitled to 215 but got 107, and OBCs (19%) should have secured 583 seats but only 292 were allocated.
A senior DMER official clarified that the reservation in unaided medical colleges was capped at 25% as per the 2006 notification, which was framed after a Supreme Court ruling permitted states to decide the quota in private institutions.
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