By IANS,
Hyderabad : The Andhra Pradesh High Court Friday directed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to grant 50 additional MBBS seats each to three medical colleges under Osmania University and Kakatiya University, located in Telangana region of the state.
The court asked MCI to take a decision on granting additional seats in two days. It also asked medical colleges to address the issues, which led to the MCI rejecting their applications for additional seats.
The high court order came on a petition by the twin universities, challenging the MCI’s decision to not grant additional MBBS seats to their medical colleges for the academic year 2012-13.
The varsities told the court that the MCI refused to sanction the additional seats to them but granted additional quota to the Andhra University Medical College and the Kurnool Medical College.
The MCI cited factors like untidy toilets, malfunctioning lifts and inadequate out-patient wards for not granting more seats to Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, Gandhi Medical College in Secunderabad and Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal.
This sparked a row with the political parties in Telangana accusing the Congress government of neglecting the region.
The state government has denied the charge but has written to the central government, seeking its intervention in the matter.
According to Medical Education Minister Kondru Murali, 600 seats were added to undergraduate medical courses this academic year, taking the total number in the state to 5,600, the highest in any state in the country.
He said MCI rejected some of the applications on technical grounds.
The minister pointed out that the government and private medical colleges in Telangana have 2,350 seats. There are 2,300 seats in coastal Andhra region and 950 in Rayalaseema.