New Delhi, Oct 2 (PTI): The Supreme Court has extended by two weeks the September 30 deadline of completing admission process for MBBS in medical colleges in Maharashtra, dismissing a plea by Medical Council of India.
The order was passed by the apex court considering the fact that some of the medical colleges in the state had enhanced the seats but were denied permission by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to take admission for extra seats as they fell few days short of the mandatory 10 years of completion of their functioning.
MCI had challenged the Bombay High Court order allowing two Government Medical Colleges--Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, Nagpur and Government Medical College, Akola to fill additional seats created by them though they were few days short of mandatory 10 years.
An apex court bench comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and A K Sikri on Monday permitted the Director of Medical Education, Maharashtra to finalise the admission of students in view of the newly enhanced 100 seats to the two Government Medical Colleges by October 14.
Advocate Jugal Kishore Gilda, who has been appearing as amicus curiae in the matter, opposed the contention of the MCI whose Special Leave Petition (SLP) was dismissed.
"We find no ground to entertain the SLP. It is dismissed leaving open the questions raised in the matter to be decided in appropriate case.
"However, considering the peculiar facts of the case, we are inclined to give a direction in respect of all colleges in the state of Maharashtra to complete the admission formalities within a period of two weeks from today. We make it clear that this order shall not be treated as a precedent," the bench said.
The apex court, a few years ago, had fixed September 30 as a cut-off date for completing the admission process in medical colleges every year across the country.
The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had asked MCI to consider enhancement of 50 seats in each of the college in view of the policy of the Centre to increase 50 seats in each of the government medical colleges to augment the health services in view of the scarcity of doctors faced by the nation.