GUWAHATI: The admission process to fill up MBBS seats in six medical colleges of Assam came to a halt on Monday after guardians and students clashed with police and government officials over curtailing of seats reserved for OBC candidates.
The OBC quota in medical colleges of the state came down to 15% from 27% after a recent Gauhati high court order asking the state government to follow the 2015 norms.
Students, who were enrolled in MBBS programmes a couple of weeks ago, are not ready to vacate their seats, even as the state directorate of medical education is firm on implementing the HC order.
“We are bound to follow the HC order which states that 2017 medical admission rules for Assam have to be junked. The OBC quota went up to 27% after the state government approved the 2017 norms before admissions were held this year. But since the court has ordered implementation of the 2015 admission norms after hearing a plea from a section of deprived students, the OBC quota has to be curtailed to 15% as per the previous norms,” said director of medical education Anup Kumar Barman.
Newly enrolled medical students, whose career aspirations may receive a huge setback, are adamant on not vacating their seats at any cost. The medical education directorate’s latest decision to cut the OBC quota came in response to writ petitions filed by a section of unsuccessful medical aspirants.
“Why should we vacate our seats after fulfilling the entire criterion? The government can continue with the legal battle but we won’t surrender our seats after attending regular classes for almost a month now,” said a dejected Aparajita Das, who got admission in Tezpur Medical College after clearing NEET this year.
Bureau Report
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