Admission regularisation: Admission Supervisory Committee to regularise admissions

Kochi: The state government moved several key amendments to the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regulation and Admission in Medical Colleges) Bill, 2018 before it was put to vote in the Assembly on Wednesday. While the ordinance, and the Bill which the government had introduced to replace it, had vested the power to regularise the admissions of the students in medical colleges with the government, the Bill as it was passed authorised the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee to do the job.

Interestingly, the change was not mentioned in the bill which was returned to the House by the subject committee. Congress leader K.C. Joseph, in a submission, had said the law would face hurdles in the court if the Admission Supervisory Committee was stripped of its powers to regulate the admissions. The Bill also proposed to do away with the clause in the ordinance to appoint an official of the rank of secretary to government as the Competent Authority to consider the applications of the students.

Instead, that power also was vested with the Admission Supervisory Committee. The Act also inserted a clause which authorised the ASC to revise its own earlier decisions and orders. It was the ASC in its order in November 2016 annulled all the admissions in Kannur and Karuna medical colleges finding that the managements had violated the norms it had put in place for the admissions and that they had failed in the triple test introduced by the Supreme Court.