Fate of 150 MBBS aspirants hangs in balance in HP

Shimla, Sep 13 (PTI) A private medical college in Solanhas allegedly denied admission to 150 medical aspirants, whowere selected after counselling by Himachal PradeshUniversity, over the demand of fee hike, which has been struckdown by the state government. Parents of the students have complained that the collegewas not admitting students and have approached the government. Principal Secretary (Health), Prabodh Saxena has directedthe college to admit the selected students under bothgovernment quotas (75 seats) and management quota (75 seatsincluding 13 NRI seats). "The management of the college has demanded hike in feebut we have made it clear that no change can be made in thefee structure after the prospectus is published andcounselling was over and have asked the college to completethe admission process," Saxena said. The state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti has accusedthe government of mishandling the issue and said it should askthe college to admit the students and also no extra fee ispaid for the seats under quota. "The tussle between the government and the University ishurting the interests of the students and it is high time thatthe government intervened and admission to 150 seats is madeand students were not burdened with hiked fee," he added. "The government has already fixed an exorbitant fee of Rs5-lakh per annum for government quota seat which is nearly 10times the fee charged by the government colleges, negating thevery concept of government quota, said a parent whose son hasbeen nominate against government quota seat. The process of admissions in three government medicalcolleges has been completed and classes would start fromtomorrow but the students seeking admission in thecollege have been left in the lurch, said another parent. PTIPCL MNG SMJMNG