The Supreme Court has directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to implement a roster system for allocation of seats for institutional preference candidates who clear the Institutes of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET).
The order from a Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao came on a petition filed by medical students’ associations and others, who complained that they were not getting their favoured disciplines in the AIIMS despite clearing the INI-CET with flying colours.
The petitioners, including Association of Students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) of Bhopal, said there was no mechanism of allotment of seats for institutional preference candidates.
INI-CET exams are held for postgraduate medical students seeking admission to elite medical institutions, including the AIIMS, NIMHANS, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry (JIPMER), PGI Chandigarh, and SCTIMST, Thiruvananthapuram. Seats are filled during the INI-CET admission process either by institutional preference or through open competition.
Unlike JIPMER, the AIIMS does not have a roster system for institutional preference candidates.
Files affidavit
During the hearing, advocate Dushyant Parashar, for the AIIMS, filed an affidavit agreeing to evolve a “roster point-based reservation for preferential candidates”. However, the actual roster point for the AIIMS would be different from that of JIPMER.
The court accepted the statement in the affidavit made on behalf of the AIIMS.
“Accepting the submissions made on behalf of the AIIMS, we direct that the roster point-based reservation for preferential candidates as followed by JIPMER shall be implemented in all the AIIMS institutes. However, the roster points need not be similar to that of JIPMER. This order shall be applicable for admission from this year,” the court directed in its recent order.
