Saturday, January 07, 2012

Bangalore: Even as it remains unclear whether the Union Government will withdraw the Medical Council of India's notification on conducting a centralised examination for medical courses in 2012, private colleges in Karnataka have decided to go ahead with their examination. It has been announced that the Under Graduate Entrance Test, conducted by the private Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K), will be held on May 6. The COMED-K has also published a detailed calendar of events and has clearly stated that the exam is for MBBS and BDS courses.

Speaking to The Hindu , a COMED-K official said that the consortium had announced earlier that it was going ahead with the examination. Colleges are against the centralised exam and had even threatened to appeal in court. However, the representative clarified that given the Centre had itself brought it up in the Supreme Court, they were convinced that the MCI notification would be withdrawn.

The Centre had, two weeks ago, submitted to the Supreme Court that State Governments were seeking an extension.

Besides Karnataka, Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Assam had sought exemption. The Supreme Court admonished the Union Government and refused to pass any order in this matter. It is unclear now what will be the next step of the Centre.

Officials at the Karnataka Examinations Authority said they were not sure what course the Government would take. However, the KEA is ready to conduct both the State Common Entrance Test (CET), like it has for over a decade now, or the National Eligibility Entrance Test. “We are waiting for the green signal on this. Either way, we have to conduct the CET for engineering. Since we have a smoothly-running mechanism in place, it will not be a problem for us. We are waiting for final decisions to get started on publishing brochures this year.”