Medical students and the regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday opposed any move by the Union Territory (UT) to pool MBBS and post-graduate seats in the all India quota from the current session.
Medical students from the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, and Government Medical College, Rajouri, held demonstrations against the likely move.
“It will ruin the career of the local aspirants and open a floodgate for outsiders to get admission here. The J&K administration should continue with the existing mechanism, where only locals are eligible for the medical seats,” a protesting MBBS student said in Srinagar.
National Conference (NC) Members of Parliament Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Muhammad Akbar Lone and Hassnain Masoodi have backed the students.
“Such a measure will expose J&K students to a greater disadvantage as compared to their counterparts from other States because of being socially and educationally backward,” NC MPs said, in a joint statement.
They said the pooling of 15% of the UT’s MBBS seats in the all India quota and 50% seat sharing for PG medical courses after NEET “is of great concern”.
“We also oppose the move for being incongruous with J&K Constitution, as the decisions of the August 5, 2019 are still pending before the constitutional bench. Any such decision will undermine the constitutional propriety and anticipate the outcome of the final verdict of the constitutional bench,” the MPs said.
Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari also cautioned against any the move. “It will prove highly detrimental to the rights and interests of J&K medical students and would jeopardise their legitimate rights. It will also decrease the number of local doctors considerably in the local institutions, which will drastically increase the unemployment among doctors in J&K,” Mr. Bukhari said.
He urged the Lt. Governor-led administration in J&K “to desist from making any such decision”.
The Medical Council Committee (MCC), in its latest notification, has stated that the J&K government was likely to participate in the All India quota counselling from this year and referred the subject to the J&K government for its approval.
