Maharashtra Medical admissions: Private colleges resist EWS quota without intake boost, claim they were not consulted

While raising various concerns about the move, members of AMUPMDC, who are the trustees/owners of private medical colleges, said they will demand a proportionate increase in intake within general merit seats as they said if the government insists on implementing the EWS reservation without the increase in intake, it will be impossible for them to continue functioning effectively.

A member of the association said, “This decision has just surfaced and is currently under discussion among our members. We are definitely going to write to the government to raise our concerns. If they insist on implementing 10 percent EWS reservation in private medical colleges, the government must ensure proportionate additional intake—unconditionally—just as it was allowed for government medical colleges.”

Meanwhile, state government representatives–medical education minister Hasan Mushrif, secretary Dheeraj Kumar and representatives from Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) – did not respond to calls and messages sent by The Indian Express requesting for their comments.

Pointing out their concerns, another member of AMUPMDC said the decision to increase intake would require approval from the National Medical Commission (NMC), which is the sole authority for sanctioning additional intake. “It is unheard of to grant an unconditional 10 percent increase in intake,” the member added.

According to the association, this additional intake has to be unconditional. “If colleges are asked to increase the number of beds, faculty members etc to allow additional intake, then that is not a solution and also quite unfair as GMCs were not asked to meet any conditions for the additional intake,” said the head of a private medical college.

Referring to the 2019 decision when the EWS reservation was introduced in government medical colleges (GMCs), and a proportionate increase in general merit seats was sanctioned to accommodate EWS seats without reducing the number of open-merit seats, the member said, “All GMCs received additional intake. It is unfair to ask private medical colleges to reserve 10 percent of seats from the existing lot without offering similar relief,” a member said.

The issue surfaced when the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell released the state medical admissions information brochure on Wednesday, revealing that 10 percent EWS reservation would now apply to private medical colleges as well. The announcement caused immediate shockwaves among stakeholders—students, parents, and colleges—as they were not consulted in advance.

With this change expected to significantly reduce the number of open-merit seats, candidates and parents now fear a steep rise in cut-off scores, making it harder to secure admission.

Colleges, on the other hand, warn that this move could impact their financial conditions to a great extent. A trustee of a private medical college said, “The reimbursement expected from the government for students admitted under various reservation categories is already delayed. Now, adding 10 percent more students under reserved categories while reducing general merit seats—where students pay full fees—will severely impact our income and thereby college’s day-to-day functioning.”

Private colleges argue that had the government consulted them, these challenges could have been highlighted in advance. “We were shocked to learn about such a critical decision through the admission brochure. If this move directly affects private medical colleges, their representation should have been ensured in the committee that made the decision,” said the head of another private medical college.