MBBS admissions: Latecomers corner seats for orphans, PwDs

MBBS admissions: Latecomers corner seats for orphans, PwDs

Hemali.Chhapia@timesofindia.com 18.10.2024

Mumbai : The MBBS admission process through the Maharashtra CET Cell has exposed a loophole. The persons with disability (PwD) quota and seats set aside for orphans are being blocked initially by purportedly eligible candidates, only to be relinquished by them after the third round of admission, which makes way for others from outside these categories to claim the seats. 

This pattern has been spotlighted this year, but what concerns parent representatives is that this may have occurred in 2023 too. To ensure it does not repeat, parents have communicated to the CET Cell and asked it to verify quota documents before allotting seats, as is done centrally. Last year at Grant Medical College, opening and closing all-India ranks were 3,433 and 10,662 respectively. In the final moments of the process, a candidate with an All-India Rank (AIR) nearing 32,000 secured a seat which was from the unfilled PwD quota. 

“The real question,” asked parent representative Sachin Bangad, “is why did this student wait until the fourth round to claim this seat, instead of applying to other govt colleges like GMC Alibaug or GMC Jalgaon?” Similarly, another open category student with an AIR close to 14,000, secured admission at GSMC, Mumbai, again on a vacant PwD seat. This was despite opening and closing ranks at this prestigious medical school being 3,433 and 10,662. This candidate too had not listed choices like Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Kalwa, or VM Govt College, Solapur, where he would have been placed in earlier rounds. Another troubling case was at HBT and Cooper Medi cal College, where a student with a rank lower than AIR 35,000 claimed a seat meant for an orphan. 

In all, at least 25 such students with low NEET ranks have made it to top govt colleges after PwD or orphan seats lying vacant were offered to these late entrants to the admission process. "This manipulation happens because documents for students registering under the PwD or orphan quotas are not verified before seats are allotted,” Bangad said. Candidates with a low NEET score are sometimes found registering on PwD quota despite not being eligible for such seats. Such a student can get away by not reporting to the college s/he is allotted in the first round and making an exit. 

Such a student, who is allotted a college and does not report, is out of the admission process, but can re-enter in the third round by paying Rs 1,000. In round 3, once a colle ge is allotted, this student who claims to be under the PwD quota can still walk away without reporting, leaving the seat vacant before the fourth round. At this point, if the CET Cell finds that no genuine PwD or orphan candidates remain for these seats, they are converted to open category. Students who may have avoided being assigned anywhere in early rounds by providing few choices, can now claim spots in such institutions that their scores wouldn’t otherwise allow them to secure. Several parents have now written to the state's CET Cell, urging them to adopt the Central Medical Counselling Committee’s method, where quota documents are verified before any seat is allotted. This year, at the end of the second round, 30 orphan and 92 seats of PwD were vacant. List of seats allotted for the third round will be declared on Oct 19.