Nissar, a government contractor from Anchal in Kollam district, had spent lakhs of rupees to secure his daughter’s admission to Kannur Medical College two years ago. He had looked up two or three other self-financed medical colleges in the state, but chose this particular one for it was cheaper than the rest.
“At the other colleges, it was around Rs 70 lakh. At Kannur Medical College, it was Rs 11 lakh for a year. The college authorities asked to pay three years’ fee in advance and I managed to pay more than half of the amount. The college authorities didn’t move the paper on time, so now we have to pay a high price for their laxity,” he told TNM.
His daughter, Ayisa, is among the 180 students in the state whose future is now in jeopardy for the Supreme Court ordered that their admissions to the course be cancelled.
The Admission Supervisory Committee had cancelled the admissions after it was found that the two colleges had admitted students in violation of norms.
The Medical Council of India moved a petition in the top court, seeking to regularise the admissions in two self-financing colleges in Kerala – Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College in Palakkad in the year 2016-2017.
On Wednesday, the State Assembly had unanimously passed a bill to regularise the admissions. With the legislation, the government's objective was to legalise the admissions saying that the students should not be victimized over the laxity of the college authorities.
However, the top court verdict came just a day later nullifying this move.
Now, the governor of Kerala, P Sathasivam, has returned the Bill without signing it. Sources said he got the legal opinion that the Bill wouldn’t stand after the Supreme Court verdict, and, hence, chose to not sign the Bill under Article 200 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the petition next month.
Uncertain future
With the Governor refusing to sign the Bill, students and parents are now staring at the bottom of the barrel.
“My daughter is 21 years old now. To seek fresh admissions, she will now have to write the entrance test again. She’s already lost two years as she couldn’t write her first-year exams. We are very worried about our child’s state of mind and worry for her future,” said Nissar.
The apex court’s order cancelling the admissions is a setback for both ruling front and the Opposition in the state as they stood united for “they were concerned about the future of the students.’
Meanwhile the Supervisory Committee on Saturday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking to cancel admissions of ten students of the Malabar Medical College, who got admission in 2016-17.