New legislation to admission in self-financing colleges

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government will bring in a new legislation for admission of students to self-financing medical colleges in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Monday.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of representatives of all political parties held here to discuss the issues connected with admission to self-financing medical colleges (SFMC) against the background of a supreme court order on the matter.

State Health Minister K K Shailaja explained the situation in SFMC admission following the apex court directive.

The court had ordered that admission to all seats shall be made from the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) list. It had also said only fees fixed by a regulatory committee should be collected from all students.

As per the existing system in the state, of the total seats, admission to 50 per cent is made from merit list, while the rest from management list. Fees charged from students who got admission in management quota was more than those admitted from merit list.

The apex court had directed that this discrimination in collecting fees also should not be there. It also directed that admission should be made adhering to principles of reservation.

The court also made centralized allotment compulsory for admission in these colleges.

Representatives of political parties wanted government to make merit the criteria for admission and charge only the fees fixed by the regulatory committee.

Vijayan said government would discuss the matter with private managements and come out with a law taking into consideration the suggestions of the political parties, an official release said here.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that they were not informed about the meeting.