The Gujarat High Court, on Thursday, termed as ‘illegal’ the Gujarat University’s decision to grant admission in post-graduate medical courses to students, who had failed in the entrance test, by giving them grace marks. It also asked the University to refrain from going ahead with these admissions.
The court said that GU’s decision to relax the standards ‘‘is contrary to the norms prescribed by the Medical Council of India and the Academic Council.’’
It questioned the University’s stand to relax the minimum eligibility marks and grant admission to students who had failed in the entrance test conducted on April 19.
During the hearing, the court observed, ‘‘The MD degree has been made cheap and this cannot be permitted. Rather, the cut-off marks should have been increased as these people will be entrusted with the lives of others.’’
The court also said the the GU Vice-Chancellor cannot relax the rules framed by the Academic Council. The court had been conducting the hearing on a petition filed by six doctors from Karmsad Medical College, challenging the University’s controversial action. Through their counsel Nilay Anjaria, they stated that the system to grant grace marks defeated the purpose of selecting meritorious students to the specialisation courses.
After the order was passed, Anjaria asked the court to allow the petitioners to request the University to conduct a second test. Allowing the request, the court said that if a second test or another alternative is found, the process should be completed by May 31, the deadline laid by the Supreme Court. It added that the test would be taken only by students who had failed the entrance test. The order will not come in the way of granting admissions to the 20 students who had passed the test.
Only 20 students had secured the minimum of 50 per cent qualifying marks in the entrance test which had been held on April 19. In order to fill all 260 post-graduate medical seats, the University decided to give grace marks to students, which is not permissible under the Medical Council of India rules.
In a related development, the GU V-C also filed an affidavit explaining the circumstances under which the relaxation was given. In his affidavit, V-C A U Patel told the court that it was done in the larger interest of the students.
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