No Separate Entrance Exams for Private Medical Colleges in Maharashtra

Sad news for all private medical colleges in Maharashtra. Supreme Court has dismissed a plea by the association of Maharashtra's private medical colleges to be allowed to conduct its own common entrance test (CET) for medical and dental college admissions.

It means students will be admitted to state as well as private colleges on the basis of a single test conducted by the state CET cell.

Association of Managements of Unaided and Private Medical and Dental Colleges challenged Maharashtra’s Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fees) Act, 2015, that lays down the state CET clause. Though this petition was meant only for the medical postgraduate entrance test, the order is being seen as precedence for all other entrance tests that will be conducted by the state under the provisions of the new act.

Association chairman Kamal Kishore Kadam said the apex court has asked them to wait for the outcome of the main petition, challenging the law. "We will see if it is possible to file a fresh petition in the HC. The government is taking away several powers given to us by a past SC order. They do not give us any money to run the institutes, how can they seek control over them?" asked Kadam. "Some of our institutes are ready to run into losses, but we will not fill our seats with students allotted by the state government," he added.