Medical College Admissions in Maharashtra basis NEET 2017 in Jeopardy

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) Maharashtra has decided to review the documents of students who have cleared the NEET 2017 exam for admission in medical colleges in Maharashtra for MBBS & BDS courses to ensure that the domicile requirements are met as per guidelines. There seems to be a discrepancy between the Maharashtra government’s stance and DMER’s stance in the dental & medical college admissions.

This decision may cost the Maharashtra government precious time, which will further delay the release of the first seat allotment list for state quota in both private and government medical colleges in Maharashtra. The state had announced that students who had completed their Class X from other state board, but have completed their Class XII from Maharashtra will be eligible to apply for the 85% medical seats in Maharashtra. However, the DMER filed a review petition pleading that students who have completed both their Class X & Class XII Boards from Maharashtra should be allowed to compete for the BDS and MBBS seats in Maharashtra only.

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Students and their wards have opposed the state government’s decision saying that if students from other state boards in Class 10 are allowed to take admission, then the minimum criteria of 15 years of education in the state becomes null & void.

As per the original admission schedule of the DMER, the process for the first round of admission should have been completed by end of July for classes to commence from August 1, 2017. According to the schedule, students’ documents were to be verified by Maharashtra before the release of the first seat allotment list after July 30, 2017. As per MCI’s circular, July 31, 2017 was supposed to be the deadline for the first round of medical counselling and seat allotment.

Following this confusion, DMER decided to chuck the verification process and directly announce the first cut-off list on July 25, 2017 and conclude the verification process later (by individual colleges), which was highly opposed by parents for fear for duplicity in applications.

Also Read: NEET-UG 2017: Parents in Maharashtra Approach SC against Change in Domicile Rules

Earlier, news had done the rounds on how out of 50,400 applications received by Maharashtra government for a seat under government quota, about 400 applications were rejected due to lack of appropriate documents.

While the future of medical and dental college admissions in Maharashtra are still in doldrums, the DMER is planning to file a review petition in court seeking permission to allow only those students clearing class 10 and 12 exams from the state to apply for seats. Stay tuned to hear about the updated pending admission process to medical colleges in Maharashtra.