Date:18/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/18/stories/2007061805250100.htm

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50:50 seat split at Pariyaram college

Staff Reporter

Ayurveda, siddha medical colleges reach agreement with Government

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

Admissions to the cooperative medical college at Pariyaram this year will be made on a 50:50 seat-sharing basis between the Government and the college management. The annual fee charged for Government seats will be Rs.20,000 with an interest-free, refundable deposit of Rs.1.5 lakh.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the management, represented by vice-chairman of the college trust M.V. Raghavan, and the Government, represented by Principal Secretary, Higher Education, P. J. Thomas here on Sunday. In the management quota, 15 per cent seats would be set aside as NRI quota with an annual fee of Rs.9 lakh. In 20 per cent of the management seats, admissions would be made from the rank list of the Controller of Entrance Examinations (CEE) and the fee would be Rs.4 lakh and the caution deposit, Rs.3 lakh. In the rest of the 15 per cent seats, the managements would be free to make admissions from the CEE's rank list irrespective of the order of merit. The fee here would be Rs.4 lakh and caution deposit Rs.3 lakh.

The consortium of managements of ayurveda and siddha medical colleges too agreed to a 50:50 seat split with the Government. In these colleges, the annual fee in the Government quota would be Rs.15,000. A deposit of up to Rs.1 lakh may be charged. In the management seats, 15 per cent would be set aside as NRI quota. Here a maximum fee of Rs.2 lakh may be charged. In 35 per cent of the management seats, the fee would be Rs.95,000.

Consortium representative Harindran Nair told mediapersons that admissions to management seats this year would be through a separate entrance test conducted by the managements. Next year onwards, the managements would take students from the Government's rank list. Sunday's agreement was applicable to five of the seven self-financing ayurveda colleges in the State. The two new ayurveda colleges to be set up in Kozhikode and Shoranur, for which Central permission has been received, also agreed to join the consortium and to abide by Sunday's agreement with the Government.

Education Minister M.A. Baby would hold separate discussions with the Mannam Memorial Ayurveda Medical College, Pandalam, and with the Sree Narayana Institute of Ayurveda Studies and Research, Puthoor.