Unique reservation norm introduced in State medical school
5 seats reserved for JNIMS faculty, 45 seats in open category, 15 seats for Central pool, 31 for ST, 2 for SC and 17 for OBC
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 08 2011: Out of the total intake capacity of 100 MBBS seats available in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), five pc or five seats have been reserved for faculty members of the institution for the academic session 2011-2012 .

With the five per cent of the available seats reserved for the faculty members as demanded by them, the newly established medical institution is likely to face a very embarrassing situation as such blatant violation of rules would cause an uproar.

JNIMS Director Prof PK Dasgupta sent a letter on July 6 to the State Health Commissioner, JNIMS OSD, academic sub-committee Chairman, DD (A) JNIMS and DD (F) JNIMS informing them about the reservation of five seats for faculty members.

Out of the total of 100 seats available in JNIMS, 15 have been already set aside as central pool.

Of the remaining 85 seats, 31 per cent should be reserved for ST, 17 per cent for OBC, two per cent for SC and the remaining 50 should be left for general or unreserved category as per a directive of the Supreme Court.

Students of JNIMS make their way towards the class room-File photo

Total seats available to students of the State in RIMS, central pool and JNIMS is distributed among students belonging to different categories according to the Manipur MBBS/BDS Entrance Examination Rules.

These rules have already been published in the State gazette.

Reservation of five per cent seats in total contradiction to the Supreme Court directive and the Manipur MBBS/BDS Examination Rules would mean at least five students included in the merit list would lose their MBBS/BDS seats which they deservedly got through the highly competitive entrance test.

A meeting of the JNIMS governing body which is headed by the Chief Minister as Chairman was held sometime back.

During the meeting, former Director Dr AD Singh raised the agenda of reserving some seats for faculty members.

In response, the Chief Minister sought the opinion of the then Health Minister P Parijat with regard to the proposal put up by Dr AD Singh.

The Health Minister then consulted a top official of the State Health Department on the same matter.

The Health Department official gave his opinion saying that reservation of seats for faculty members was unreasonable.

The official also quoted the Supreme Court's directive.

In the aftermath of the meeting, the Health Department received many letters from JNIMS authority.

The Health Department responded with the same reply that reservation of seats for faculty members lacked justification.

The latest reply was sent on April 6 in the form of an intimation letter by the Health Department Secretariat without approval of the Government.

However, JNIMS authority mistook the intimation letter as having Government approval.

Subsequently, the JNIMS Director, based on the intimation letter, sent a letter to the Health Department informing the reservation of five per cent seats for the faculty members.

Generally, there is no tradition of reserving seats for faculty members in State-run medical colleges.

It is not only in medical colleges.

Even in Government colleges and schools, no seats are reserved for sons and daughters of faculty members.

If the five reserved seats are taken by sons and daughters of faculty members, it may create a very ugly situation and the matter may be taken to the Court.

On being contacted by The Sangai Express, a top official of the Health Department reacted in a very surprising manner.

"Such practice or system has never been heard before", he commented.