NEW DELHI, Jan 20: What do college students have to do with Model Code of Conduct? Strangely, quite a lot. The fate of hundreds of medical graduates and applicants hangs in the balance with the EC deciding that the issuance of Letter of Permission/Letter of Intent (LoP/LoI) for new and old medical colleges is violation of the conduct code.Three universities in Maharashtra - Shivaji University, Amravati University and Pune University - will send out graduates in dental science this year who will not be recognised as doctors though the Dental Council of India cleared their names and sent them to the Central Government for notification. Several medical colleges in the country, which are either waiting for Health Ministry's permission to begin admissions or have applied for new courses, are also hit by the EC's tough stance.Official spokesperson of the Election Commission confirmed that the EC had refused permission to the Health Ministry in respect of these colleges as it ``amounted to violation of Code of Conduct.'' In a letter addressed to the CEC, Minister of State for Health Renuka Choudhary has said that the govt is required to take a decision on the applications within a period of one year and the issuance of these letters is ``only a culmination of a long-drawn ongoing process which is one of the routine works of the Ministry.''``This action on the part of the Ministry will be a negative reaction towards the Government and goes against the very purpose of the Model Code of Conduct, which attempts to keep a neutral field,'' she says. As many as 40 colleges, including five government colleges, will have to wait till the elections are over to get their proposals cleared.Some of them are: Meenakshi Degree College, Madras, for instance, applied for increase of seats. Adminstrative order has been stalled. SRMD College, Madras: Madras High Court has ordered increase of seats but official order awaited. Camba Gowda College, Bangalore, applied for beginning post graduate course. Permission pending with the Ministry. Mamta Education Society, Khammam, Andhra Pradesh: LoP awaited from the ministry.In all these cases, clearance has been obtained from all the relevant authorities after fulfilling stringent conditions laid down for grant of either the LoI or the LoP or even permission to increase seats. All the colleges have begun counselling for admission and the decision will leave applicants waiting for few months even after all the formalities have been completed.
