MUMBAI, July 24: THE new rules framed this year for MBBS/BDS admissions by the state government has triggered off an interesting twist in an existing trend. Normally, students from outside Mumbai would petition courts at the time of admissions. This time, it is the turn of Mumbai's students.The rules, formulated after a High Court directive, have done little to achieve the intended uniformity in seat allocations. Mumbai's much coveted medical colleges have now been thrown open to a region labelled `Rest of Maharashtra' (RoM). The state has been divided into three developmental board regions, and municipal-run medical colleges have also been included. While the division of medical seats in Vidharbha and Marathwada continues to be on university area basis (see graphic), the Mumbai university area's 12 colleges have been clubbed with three other university areas spanning more than 600 km radius.The 7,000 applicants from Mumbai fear they are getting a raw deal from these rules. Mumtaz Patel, who scored 92 per cent in the Physics-Chemistry-Biology (PCB) combination and wanted a dental seat in Mumbai, now feels it will be ``a futile attempt.'' She has opted for physiotherapy instead. Seema Shroff from Mithibai is ranked 1,310 in the State Merit List (SML) with 93 per cent, yet she pins no hope on her interview for admissions to the MBBS course in Mumbai. ``Till last year, my admission would have been a breeze, but now all students who have slogged throughout the year to score over 92 per cent (PCB) will have to pursue their careers elsewhere,'' she states.These rules may also force many students to migrate to other parts of Maharashtra to study. Are there enough infrastructal facilities like hostels to cope with this outflow? Definitely not, say sources. A petition filed by two students in the HC challenging these rules failed to elicit a stay, and the subsequent appeal in the Supreme Court awaits an order. Advocate Mukesh Vashi, who is representing the petitioners, commented, ``Only three kinds of reservations are permissible: admission based on regional backwardness, on state interest or university-wise. There is no question of state interest here.'' A report of the joint committee of Developmental Boards in Technical Education and Vocational Training shows a backlog of 71 seats in the MBBS course in the Marathwada region and 67 in the Vidharbha region, while no backlog exists in RoM. To clear this backlog, the committee had asked the governor to ``create additional seats in the respective regions in the next three years.'' However, the government has resorted to shifting students from one region to another to ensure equitable allocation of seats. This move is seen as self-defeating and contrary to the joint committee's recommendation. Moreover, as per the Medical Council of India's directives, 250 seats have been dropped from the present academic year from RoM.Senior officials from medical colleges allege that the rules are politically motivated to cover up the lack of improvement of other medical colleges in the state. The dean of Sion hospital, Dr R G Shirahati, said the new rules would affect city students. For instance, at LTM college, Sion, which has 100 seats for first year MBBS, 30 seats which came under the open category for Mumbai University students till last year have now been reduced to 29, and these are to be shared by Mumbai's students with their counterparts from the RoM region comprising four university areas - Mumbai, Pune, Dhule and Solapur and Miraj. Though there are 31 seats in the reserved category (Backward Classes), these too have been thrown open for the RoM. To complicate things further, 30 per cent of seats are kept aside for Vidharbha and Marathwada. Even as interviews are in progress, the first day's batch of the first 300 on the SML had only 34 Mumbai students. Students also predict that a large number of seats will fall vacant in the second MBBS in Mumbai.
