mumbai

Updated: Feb 12, 2018 23:12 IST

Six months after the Bombay high court stayed the state government resolution (GR) reserving 67.5% postgraduation (PG) seats in private and deemed medical institutes for candidates furnishing a domicile certificate, the government reintroduced the domicile requirement this year. A person born in Maharashtra or has lived in the state for at least 15 years has domicile status.

Under the new admission rules issued last month, aspirants are required to be domiciled in Maharashtra as well as be a graduate from one of the medical or dental colleges in the state or a central institute to be eligible for seats reserved for ‘Maharashtra state candidates’. Until last year, all the students graduating from medical and dental colleges in the state were eligible under this category.

The new norms will affect more than 1,000 PG seats claimed by medical graduates who studied in the state, but are not domiciled. Nearly 50% seats in government colleges and 85% in private medical and dental colleges are reserved for Maharashtra state candidates. The remaining 50% seats in government colleges are set aside for ‘All India candidates’, while 15% seats in private institutes belong to non-residential Indians (NRIs).

Read: No domicile needed for medical PG students from K’taka border area: Maharashtra govt

Contending that a higher number of medical practitioners domiciled in Maharashtra are needed to provide healthcare in the state, the government, in April 2017, issued a GR announcing 50% seats for PG courses in private and deemed medical and dental colleges, in addition to half of the 35% institution quota seats — 17.5% seats — were to be filled with students domiciled in Maharashtra.

However, a division bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and Anant Badar stayed the GR, terming it “arbitrary and unreasonable” because it changed the eligibility criteria midway through the admission process.

The government is confident that its new rules are legally tenable. “The court didn’t find any fault with our decision. It got stayed only because it was issued after the admission process began,” said an official from Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).

The state domicile requirement won’t be applicable to candidates seeking admission to deemed institutes. “All the admissions to deemed institutes will be conducted by the central government,” said Pravin Shingare, director, DMER.

Read: Maharashtra wants quota for its own students in undergraduate medical admissions

Parents of medical aspirants and students in the state have welcomed the new rules. “Out-of-Mharashtra candidates are exempted from the rural bond service, resulting in a loss to the state,” said Muzaffar Khan, a parent and medical education counsellor.

“This is a good move,” added Chandranath Sarkar, another parent.

However, Kamal Kishore Kadam, president, Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental colleges, criticised the decision. “PG courses are specialised programmes. All the seats should be filled through merit,” he added.