Medical classes begin; Govt moves SC

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 1 (UNI) Amid a legal wrangle, classes began for the fresh batch in medical colleges run by both the state government and self-financing college managements in Kerala even as the Supreme Court today posted for August seven the hearing of a case relating to the admission procedures in these instituions.

While the state-run colleges began the classes with only 15 per cent of the students who got admission under the all India quota, self-financing colleges admitted 50 per cent seats under the management quota.

Even though an uncertainty prevailed in the admission procedures in self-financing professional colleges due to the ongoing legal battle between the government and the college managements, the classes in five government colleges and seven self financing colleges began today in the wake of the Medical Council of India dirction.

The state government had challenged in the Supreme Court the interim order of a Divison Bench of the Kerala High Court allowing the college managements to admit students under the government and management quota in the ratio of 50:50. But the government wanted to implement the provisions of the recently enacted legislation on self financing colleges, which curtailed the number of seats allotted to the managements.

Meanwhile, the pro-CPM Students Federation of India (SFI) and the pro-CPI All India Students Federation (AISF) demonstrated against the self-financing colleges in the state.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the SFI activists took out protest marches against the Gokulam Medical college.

The SFI and the AISF took out separate protest marches against the Pushpagiri Medical College in Thalassery, Amala Medical College and Jubilee Mission Hospital in Thrissur. They also led protest marches to the MES Medical College at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district.

The government had moved the Supreme Court against the Kerala High Court's interim order directing the government to follow the previous year's admission and fee structure in self-financing engineering and medical colleges.

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