By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad : Samreen Fatima, daughter of a bed maker Haji Karim, Navshaba, daughter of a Hafiz-e-Quran Javed Iqbal were among the 96 Muslim boys and girls who secured admission in medical or MBBS course in the Deccam Medical college, a Muslim minority institution in Hyderabad on Sunday on merit basis through public counseling. The college had called for applications only from the eligible Muslim candidates who had secured up to 7000 ranks in the common entrance test (Emacet) this year.
Akbaruddin Owaisi, the managing director of Deccan Medical College and Hospital said that the college had held a public counseling and completed the process of filling the seats before a big gathering to refute the allegations of irregularities and selling the seats to undeserving candidates.
“Of the 150 seats in the college, 96 are in A category in which the candidates can be filled only on the basis of merit and we have done it in accordance with the ranks secured by the students”, he said. “The remaining 40% seats are in category B which the management can fill in accordance with its discretion and we will do it later”, he said.
But he regretted that even those Muslim students who had secured good ranks and could have got the seats in the government and non minority colleges through government counseling, had opted for the Deccan Medical college. “This year all the students up to the rank of 1084 got the admission though general counseling in the government and other medical colleges but 38 Muslim students with in this rank had applied for Deccan college. This will only hurt the interest of other Muslim candidates who could have got these seats otherwise”, he said.
Many students who had got admission in 4% quota under Backward Class E category reservation have also applied and secured seats in Deccan Medical college. “They have done this because their admission on those seats is subjected to final court order on the legality of this reservation”, he said.
All such students were requested to give an undertaking that they will not leave Deccan Medical college if they get final court verdict in their favor for the BC E seats. Couple of parents insisted that they will not sign the undertaking and keep both the seats for the time being. But the other parents strongly objected to this and wanted them to leave one of the two seats. After some reluctance they agreed to vacate the seats under BC E quota and keep Deccan Medical college seat.
The Muslim students who had secured ranks up to 3935 were allotted seats under 4% quota. Of the 120 seats which the Muslims should have got in MBBS under this quota, only 58 students opted for them and others were still vacant to be filled in the second round of counseling. But the students were reluctant to opt for them because of uncertainty.
One of such parents said that he wanted their daughter to study in a government medical college but as a precaution wanted to keep Deccan Medical college seat also in case the court declares BC E quota invalid.
Akbaruddin Owaisi appealed to the students to go for the government colleges and the BC E quota keeping hope in Allah that the courts will give a favorable verdict so that the Muslims could get maximum benefit from government colleges.
Akbaruddin said that the poor parents do not have to worry the fee of Rs 55000 per annum because the government has agreed to reimburse them under a new scheme. However this applies only to the parents whose annual income was less than Rs 100,000. He said that as a legislator of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen he will fight in the state assembly to ensure that these Muslim students also get free text books, accommodation charges and pocket money at par with the scheduled castes, tribes and other backward classes students so they get maximum benefit from the government.
This is incidentally silver jubilee year of Deccan Medical college. Owaisi said that so far the college has produced 2500 Muslim male and female doctors doing a great service to the community. “From 1947 to 1984, when Deccan Medical college was established, only 111 Muslims could become doctor in the state in 37 years”, he said.
After Deccan college, another Muslim minority medical college of Shadan Group will undertake admissions through counseling next week admitting another 100 students of the community.
Last year 153 Muslims were admitted in medical colleges and 51 in Dental colleges under the 4% quota. Andhra Pradesh has 3850 medical seats and 1132 dental college seats.