PMK demands 65 pc seats in pvt medical colleges for Govt quota

Puducherry, July 24: Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) parliamentary party leader Prof M Ramadass on Wednesday, July 24, urged the administration to take immediate steps to promulgate an ordinance to reserve 65 per cent seats in private medical colleges as Government quota.

Addressing a press conference here, he referred to two private medical colleges refusing to allot any seat to the Government quota claiming to be deemed universities, and wondered whether the administration had taken any step with the UGC or the Union Human Resources Development Ministry not to grant deemed university status to the colleges without consulting the territorial government. As an MP from the union territory, he would approach the UGC and the HRD Ministry to cancel the deemed university status of the two colleges, if already given, he added.

Prof Ramadass said the Union Government had agreed to earmark 20 per cent seats for Puducherry students in the National Institute of Technology (NIT) this year, after he took up the matter with the Centre.

If the Puducherry administration came forward to provide 300 acres of land, either in the Puducherry or Karaikal regions, the Centre was prepared to start an NIT with 50 per cent intake from Puducherry and bear the entire expedniture, he added.

Stating that the failure of the territorial administration to devolve powers to the elected local body representatives was a violation of the MoU signed between Union Panchayatiraj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer and Chief Minister N Rangasamy and unconstitutional, Prof Ramadass said he would organise an agitation along with the local body representatives in this regard shortly. He said the victory of the UPA Government in the confidence vote was a reflection of its achivements in the last four years.

UNI