1-yr MBBS students in a spot

PUDUCHERRY: After a year of study, a batch of 150 MBBS students of the Venkateswara Medical College (VMC), a self-financing college at Ariyur here, who were admitted in 2010-2011, are in a spot as the college has neither the approval of the Medical Council of India nor an affiliation from the Pondicherry University.   The MCI did not grant approval citing shortage of faculty and since two of the faculty members had been serving at two other colleges. The college moved the High Court claiming that it was not aware of its faculty serving elsewhere and that the shortage was within the permitted five per cent norm.  An interim order was given by the HC in July 2010 permitting admission of students, subject to the outcome of the final order.Unfortunately, the date of issue of the final order had not been fixed and it was not known whether it would be issued before the closure of admissions in September 30 (2010).Without taking into consideration these aspects, the college admitted the students and the Puducherry Government also sponsored 53 students for admission through CENTAC.  Since the admission took place in September at the fag end of the admissions, the students could not wait to check the status of the order before the admissions.The college conducted the first year classes and never informed the students about the situation till May 2011, when they had to appear for the university exams.   When the university refused to grant affiliation and conduct examinations for these students, the college,  again in June 2011, approached the Madras HC , which issued a directive to the Pondicherry University to conduct examinations with the condition that the college should notify the content of the court order to the students.  The final outcome of the examination depended on the MCI approval.The university subsequently conducted the examinations, but withheld the results of  these students as per the High Court order, though the results of other students were declared in the third week of July.A month has passed and students are forced to attend second year classes, without knowing their first year results.  “We have been advised to pay the second year fee, which is almost double the amount prescribed by the Government Fee Committee,“ said a parent.The college, which is fighting the case against MCI, asserts that the faculty position is alright as the MCI had granted approval for first year admissions in the current year.  However, with the solution lying in the final order of the court, the college is impleading the  students in the case against MCI and have already collected signatures, said Dr M Choudhury, principal of the college.   While sponsoring a seat it is the government’s duty to check for  approval from the regulatory body.  The CENTAC, however, in its offer letters, always mentioned ‘subject to approval’.  Many a time when the college has an approval, similar conditional offer letters are given to students. This is because the approvals have not been communicated to the government by the authority concerned.  The students too do not take such conditions seriously and believe that approvals exist as it is a government-sponsored seat.