Gujarat HC backs govt rule on MBBS admissions for defence kids

Gujarat high court has once again turned down a petition questioning the state government's policy by which it denies admission in its medical, dental and para-medical courses to children of defence personnel, who are of Gujarati origin but are posted outside Gujarat, if they have studied in any other than Gujarat board.

The state government's rules for admission in medical courses provide opportunities for kids of IAS/IPS officer, who are posted outside Gujarat, and study in schools affiliated to boards other than Gujarat board. In two different orders, the HC has upheld the state government's policy.

This time, the question before HC was that as the government grants admission to kids of Gujarat-domicile defence personnel in engineering courses, it should consider the same criteria for medical courses. This issue was raised by Nina Vadhel, who cleared Class 12 from the Jammu & Kashmir board and whose father is a Naib Subedar in Uttarakhand.

However, the HC turned down her plea mainly on grounds that the state government has a right to make different admission criteria for different courses. Compared to the number of engineering seats, there are much fewer medical seats available in the state. Moreover, there is much greater demand for medical courses. Moreover, there is a 15% quota for outside students in medical courses, and defence personnel's kids can compete with others in this quota. This is because defence personnel are employees of the central government. The children of bureaucrats do not have to compete because the officers are allotted to Gujarat and they are at the state's service.

Nina has studied in J&K state board, but admission rules in that state say that a non-Kashmiri student cannot get admission in medical courses. This led her to seek admission in Gujarat's medical colleges, but the rules in Gujarat also disqualify her for admission.