Troubled water: Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences

Patna, Aug 19: The high court today stayed the admission to the newly introduced MBBS course at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) on the basis of the performance in the state combined entra- nce examination.

Hearing a petition filed by Kumar Kshitiz Abhinav seeking a stay on the admission process, a bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi issued the order. It also directed the state government, IGIMS and Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination (BCECE) to file their replies within a week.

Abhinav, who could not make it to the BCECE, had applied for appearing in the proposed all-India written examination for admission to IGIMS.

The health cradle had published an advertisement on July 18 inviting applications for the entrance test. But the board of governors of IGIMS decided on August 3 that admissions to the newly introduced MBBS course at the institute would be made through second round of counselling of BCECE.

Abhinav prayed to the court to ask the IGIMS to conduct the entrance test. He claimed that depriving him the opportunity to take the examination would seal his chances of getting admission to the institute.

Terming the petition frivolous, the respondents’ counsel submitted that according the Section 2D of the BCECE Act, 1995, the performance of the students in the examination can be taken into count for admission to any institute managed and financed by the state government.

“The IGIMS is very much managed and financed by the state government. So, the state government can admit students to it through the merit list of BCECE,” the counsel argued.

State health minister is the chairman of the IGIMS’s board of governors. The health department’s principal secretary is a member of the board, the counsel added.

Citing the provision of Clause 15A of BCECE prospectus 2011, the counsel contended it could either delete or add any institute in its list for admission at any stage of counselling.

The government counsel said the state government decided to give admission to students to IGIMS through BCECE results instead of holding fresh written examination as there was very little time left to complete the admission process according to the Supreme Court judgment.

According to the apex court verdict on Mridul Dhar case in 2005, the state government has to complete the admissions process of the MBBS course latest by August 31. If the state government fails to meet the deadline, it would lose the opportunity of admitting students to the IGIMS, the counsel contended.

Advocate Dwivedy Surendra filed a similar petition. The petitioner-in-person sought direction from the court that admission to the institute should be made through written examination only, as advertised by the IGIMS earlier. Thousands of students had applied online for the examination, Suren- dra said.

Medical Council of India (MCI) had given its nod to IGIMS to start MBBS course in June. The institute was given permission to admit 100 students.

The medical college at IGIMS — a 450-bed tertiary health hub, was approved by MCI under Section 10A of MCI Act (amended) with an “autonomous” tag. The letter of permission said the “permission would be renewed annually on verification of achievement of annual target set in the project report submitted by the institution”.