Rohtak, May 26
The PGIMS, the only state-owned medical college and hospital in Haryana, was the scene of a high drama yesterday when the authorities started counselling for MD/MS/PG diploma admission for the in-service candidates.
Irate open general category students who felt aggrieved by the action of the PGIMS authorities shouted slogans, broke glass panes, staged dharna and locked the admission board members in a room for nearly five hours.
The problem started when the Maharshi Dayanand University conducted the entrance test for admission to various postgraduate courses in which only one doctor from in-service category (HCMS) candidate could qualify by securing more than 50 per cent marks. There are 30 per cent seats (about 40 in total) reserved for HCMS candidates and as per the Medical Council of India Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations-2000, which are mandatory and binding, the minimum percentage of marks for eligibility for admission to postgraduate course is 50 per cent except for candidates belonging to SC/ST category where it is 40 per cent.
When only one candidate qualified from the HCMS category, the remaining seats were to be transferred to the General open category. However, the HCMS doctors went to the High Court and prayed for lowering the minimum pass percentage for them and the next date of hearing was fixed for today. The government at the time of last hearing is said to have taken the plea that they are giving 10 per cent weightage to the service category doctors and shall be holding the test again.
The doctors who had appeared in the test and were hoping to be admitted if the pass percentage was lowered by 20 per cent started pulling strings with the powers that be. They succeeded in getting direction from the government that those securing 20 per cent marks fewer than the minimum specified in the prospectus be made eligible for admission to the MD/MS courses.
Things started moving fast and what made the other students suspicious was that the PGIMS authorities published admission notice in a few newspapers on May 23 and fixed counselling on May 25, Sunday.
The general category students who were expecting transfer of these seats to their category alleged that this was being done to
preempt any adverse High Court judgement, against the HCMS doctors.
