Guwahati: The aspirants from hill states of the region including those from Meghalaya could not be allotted seats in medical colleges in Assam this year (2017) deviating from the convention because of a new set of rules enacted by Assam government in July this year in tune with the standing Supreme Court directive for reservation of 27 per cent for candidates from the OBC category.
A highly-placed official in the Directorate of Medical Education in Assam on Wednesday informed that the practice of providing 13 medical seats every year under North Eastern Council (NEC) quota to hill states of the region – 10 seats for Meghalaya students, one for Nagaland, one for Mizoram and one for Arunachal Pradesh – had to be discontinued effective from this year (2017) after Assam government had enacted a new set of rule for admission into medical colleges in the state in tune with the standing Supreme Court directive for mandatory reservation of 27 % seats for OBC candidates.
As per the Supreme Court directive Assam government had to increase the OBC quota seats to 27 % from existing 15 %.
The official said the new set of rules were adopted on July 1, 2017 and the NEC authority was informed by July 3, 2017 that the NEC quota medical seats in Assam’s medical colleges would not be provided effective from this year.
“Since it is the NEC authority which distributes those 13 seats among hill states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, so the matter was informed to the NEC and no other concerned states was informed separately by Assam government,” the official said.
“Besides the OBC quota seats, we have to reserve 07% seats for SC candidates, 10 % for ST (Plains), 05% for ST (Hills). Moreover, the unreserved category seats can’t be less than 50 %, so there is no scope for providing the 13 seats under the NEC quota effective from this year,” the official said.
When pointed out that Meghalaya Chief Minister, Dr Mukul Sangma had got in touch with his Assam counterpart, Sarbananda Sonowal for early resolution of the issue in the interests for the aspirants from Meghalaya, the official said it was up to the both the governments to find a way out at the highest level.