Twist in Vaishno Devi medical college case, state board tells govt: Adjusting students not our mandate, do it yourself

While withdrawing permission for the course, the NMC had asked the J&K government to admit these students against supernumerary seats in other medical colleges in the Union Territory. The J&K Health and Medical Education Department had written to BOPEE, asking for the allotment of supernumerary seats in other medical colleges in J&K.

However, in a communication dated January 21, sent to the Administrative Secretary of J&K’s Health and Medical Education Department, JKBOPEE Under Secretary Nazia Chowdhar said, “The Board has observed that it is constrained to conduct any new counseling for year 2025-25 as it is not mandated to go beyond the counseling schedule issued by the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC), MoHFW, New Delhi for current academic session.”

“Moreover, as per directions of the MCC, the data of 1,410 MBBS candidates, including 50 candidates of SMVDIME under question, has also been updated on their portal on the last date of joining, i.e. 31st of December 2025,” the communication said.

Pointing out that the creation and allocation of supernumerary seats does not fall within its ambit, the board asked the J&K government to make a fresh allocation of supernumerary seats to candidates who were earlier enrolled in SMVDIME “at its own level in consultation with National Medical Commission (NMC) and the respective medical colleges in J&K”.

The NMC withdrew the Letter of Permission (LoP) granted to SMVDIME for the MBBS course earlier this month, also citing serious deficiencies in faculty strength and the availability of clinical materials during a surprise inspection.

The inspection came just months after the NMC had granted permission for the course, following a detailed inspection of the college’s infrastructure. The college had been at the receiving end of protests by right-wing groups, who had questioned how so many Muslim students could be admitted when the college was run from funds donated by Vaishno Devi pilgrims.