Hyderabad:
Days after the controversy over students with zero marks qualifying for engineering seats in Andhra Pradesh, students aspiring to become doctors came out on the road today, supported by politically backed student organisations, alleging that medical college seats were being sold for anywhere between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore per seat.
Students allege that there is no transparency in the allocation of seats. Students are supposed to be allotted seats on the basis of merit and their stated preference for different colleges through a process of what is technically called counselling.
Counselling is a process by which students who sit for the entrance examination and qualify are allotted medical college seats on the basis of their stated preference and also merit. It is taking place in Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vizag and Vijayawada.
At least 62 agitating students, including seven girls, were arrested after a dharna in Hyderabad and were taken to the Kukatpally Police Station in the city.
Students allege there is no transparency in the counselling process. They allege that the management quota seats were being sold in violation of government norms put down under a government order 136. They also say that 60 per cent seats should be given as per merit under what is called convenor quota that costs upto Rs 60,000 per seat and 40 per cent is allowed as management seats. Each management seat that should cost upto Rs 5.5 lakh was being sold, in some cases, for upto Rs 1 crore, they allege.
There are 6820 MBBS seats in Andhra Pradesh. Some 90,197 students sat for the common entrance test this year, out of which 77,800 have qualified and applied for the seat.
That means those students would have got at least 25 per cent marks in the entrance exam and upto 50 per cent marks in the 12th class exam.
Parents and some others arguing on behalf of merit have also gone to court demanding that medical seats should not be sold to the highest bidders. A judgment is expected soon in the case.