Bathinda, July 20: Scores of parents seeking admissions for their wards to MBBS and BDS courses in medical and dental colleges of Punjab are a harried lot since Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, has decided to allow the students who sat for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) outside the state, with a higher rank in the test, to be eligible for admission under the state quota of 85%. Previously, they were accommodated in the 15% of the seats.
There is confusion among the bona fide students of Punjab who complained that due to BFUHS decision, their chances of getting admission under the state quota of 85% were reduced. The confusion increased with the BFUHS declaring two merit lists, first on June 29 for those who appeared in NEET from Punjab, and another on July 16, where students from other states were included.
Parents of the affected candidates have decided to approach the Punjab and Haryana high court against the university decision.
Punjab has eight medical and 16 dental colleges, which have a combined strength of 2,300 seats. BFUHS controls the admission process for all seats in MBBS and BDS courses in Punjab.
One parent Charanjit Chopra from Patiala said, “The university had put up merit list of students from Punjab on June 29. Many students from Punjab were sure of getting admission in colleges in the state. However, on July 16, BFUHS came out with another merit list by including students from other states due to which the rank of students from Punjab came down. It is sheer injustice with students of Punjab as the university is giving rights to get admission to students from other states out of state quota of 85%. We will soon approach the court against that.”
He said earlier, the university had mentioned that those seeking admission under Punjab quota should be a domicile of the state, having studied classes XI and XII from here besides appearing in the NEET from Punjab.
Another parent said the university had clearly mentioned earlier that students who cleared XI and XII from Punjab and were domiciles were eligible for 85% quota and others would be accommodated in the remaining 15% seats.
BFUHS in-charge of admissions Dr Arvind Sharma said, “We had put up the merit list on June 29 for complete transparency about the students qualifying for NEET from Punjab. The university also has to accommodate students from other states who have done classes XI and XII from Punjab but have appeared in the test from any other state. It does not mean that a candidate who is a permanent resident of Punjab and has done Class XII from the state but appeared from outside is not eligible for admission under the 85% quota.”
He said, during the counselling from July 22 to 24, all details of the students from other states will be checked to ensure that they were domiciles of Punjab and had cleared Class XII from the state.
News Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
