Shillong, Oct 6: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) today met Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla to discuss alleged irregularities in the allotment of MBBS seats under central pool quota.
Last week, the KSU had called for the scrapping of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for seat allotment, after a non-tribal student who had lower NEET marks was preferred to a Khasi student with a higher score, and also for the removal of the Scheduled Caste category from the list of categories since it does not exist under the State Reservation Policy of 1972.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar said that during the discussion with Shylla along with officials of the department it was decided to do away with Clause 9.6 of the SOP.
Clause 9.6 of the SOP speaks of allocation rules, which states that, in each cycle, one seat per category (if available) is allocated in the defined priority order. Each student has to indicate multiple options for the choice of colleges and the Colleges will be allocated in each round as per Category, NEET Ranking and availability of the College in that round.
It also states that in case the reserved category candidate who has been selected under open category (UR), those candidates will be given the choice of exercising the option of either UR or respective category during the order/process of allocation of seats.
As per the SOP, counselling shall be conducted by one team only and that in each cycle, only the available seats shall be displayed for candidates to exercise their choices, and before every round of counselling a fresh seat matrix shall be prepared, reflecting only the unfilled seats from the total quota.
Marngar said that during the discussion with the Health Minister it was pointed out that there are many Khasi-Jaintia students in the waiting list, whose NEET marks are higher than those non-tribal candidates who were selected in the open category.
He said that if the government speaks about transparency, then it should not have inserted a clause which is complex.
General Secretary Donald V Thabah added that Clause 9.6 is problematic, as it forces students to choose between their ST status and the open category, potentially depriving them of their rights.
Marngar raised concerns that controversy on seat allotment for MBBS course surfaces every year.
The union had also demanded that the Health Department rectify the allocation of seats under the state quota for Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Physiotherapy, Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery, and Bachelor of Homeopathy Medicine and Surgery.
Meanwhile, Shylla explained to reporters that there was never any irregularity in the allocation of seats, as it was done according to the SOP.
One of the Khasi-Jaintia students who secured higher marks than one of the non-tribals originally chose to remain in the reserved category. However, when the issue was raised by the pressure groups, she changed her mind and expressed her willingness to be included in the open category. The state government has pulled the original seat allocation and will now accommodate this student.
“Since she already agreed, from the department we have no issues. Right now everything is sorted,” Shylla said.
