A government resolution issued on august 20 by Maharashtra’s ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government to bring deemed medical and dental universities under the ambit of the state’s online centralised admission process (CAP), was struck down by the Bombay high court on August 30. The court ruled that while admissions into government and private medical colleges are governed by CAP, deemed universities can devise their own admission rules and regulations subject to their being transparent and merit-based as decreed by the Supreme Court in its historic judgement in the T.M.A. Pai Foundation Case (2002). However, admissions into all (government, private and deemed) medical and dental education institutions will be on the basis of merit scores in NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test). 

The high court judgement has been welcomed by deemed (mainly private) universities which have accepted replacement of their own entrance exams by NEET. However, on the issue of admission rules and regulations, they are determined to assert their autonomy as per the Supreme Court’s ruling in the T.M.A. Pai Case. Therefore, they were opposed tooth and nail to CAP, particularly since its prime intent was to force deemed medical/dental universities to reserve 85 percent (1,800 seats) of capacity for Maharashtra domiciled students. The Ahmednagar-based Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Mumbai challenged CAP, saying it infringed upon their autonomy to devise their own admission processes. 

Promoter-trustees of private deemed universities believe that CAP is the thin end of the wedge for whittling down the hard-won freedom of private professional education institutions to administer themselves and determine their own tuition fees. After several titanic court battles stretching over decades, in 2002 a 11-judge bench of the Supreme Court over-ruled its own judgement in Unnikrishnan Case (1993) under which the Central and state governments appropriated over 50 percent of capacity for merit students passing their common entrance tests (CETs) at government stipulated tuition fees and determined the tuition fees, charged to another 30 percent of students admitted into private professional (medical, dentistry, engineering etc) colleges. This government micro-management of private professional colleges was overturned by the apex court in the T.M.A. Pai Foundation Case. 

Understandably, promoters and managers of deemed universities are wary of the state government’s attempts to abridge their autonomy by the back door and particularly, to reduce tuition fees for populist electoral reasons. “The tuition fees of deemed universities and colleges providing medical/dental education are high because they are unsubsidised. Providing contemporary infrastructure and hiring competent faculty requires money which results in the higher fees,” explains a trustee of a private deemed university. 

The CAP resolution of the BJP-Sena government was also suspicious because most deemed universities have been promoted by opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party politicians and cronies. For instance, the promoter-trustee of the Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune, is former Congress minister, Patangrao Kadam while the Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Ahmednagar was established by Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, currently leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly. “After the T.M.A. Pai Foundation Case, in no other state within the country, has the state government tried to interfere with the admission process adopted by deemed institutions,” says the registrar of a deemed university who prefers to remain anonymous.

With government-owned institutions of professional education in disarray, Maharashtra’s ruling party politicians are becoming increasingly anxious to reassert their control over private colleges and varsities. But with promoters and managements of privately promoted institutions fighting back and the judiciary shedding its socialist mindset, the bad old days of government micro-management seem to be over.  

Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)