Justice Rangavittalachar of Karnataka High Court issued notices to the secretary and director of state Medical Education department for not issuing seat matrix for post graduate medical courses for the year 2002-03.The order was issued after hearing a batch of petitioners questioning the delay in finalising seat matrix.

The state department of medical education should have completed the admission process for the PG courses for the academic year 2002-2003 by September 30, 2002.

Dr. Gangu Hiral S, Dr. Ashwin Hebbar K, Dr. Ashokanand DV and Dr. Venkesthwaran N, who appeared for the entrance test for the PG courses conducted by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) on August 11, in their petitions, said that as per the calendar of events, the PG courses should have commenced from October 1, 2002. Last year, the State had announced the seat matrix on August 25, they pointed out.

The petitioners also pointed out that students under the all India quota have already been admitted to the government medical colleges and regular PG sessions have started for those students. Even private colleges have admitted students of PG courses under management quota and have commenced courses.

This delay of more than three months on the part of the government in announcing the seat matrix has deprived the PG seat aspirant, including the petitioners of their seniority in the courses.

According to Karnataka government officials, the seat matrix for the PG courses were issued and admissions would be made soon.

Meanwhile on the medical seats front, the Karnataka government is examining the Supreme Court verdict on medical colleges and will finalise the policy for admission to MBBS soon.

Dr. AB Malakaraddy, minister for medical education, government of Karnataka said that there were certain ambiguities in the Supreme Court order, which gave scope for wide range of misinterpretation.

An official committee consisting of secretaries of Law, Higher Education and Medical Education departments were going through the Court's order before it goes to the cabinet. The policy would be announced much before the next academic year, said Dr. Malakaraddy.

The private medical colleges in the State, numbering 26, have been given a free hand by the Supreme Court to fix the fees. However, the State could appoint a suitable agency if charges of abnormal fees were made against any college, the medical education minister added.

"The Supreme Court has not given any overriding powers to the private medical colleges with regard to the admission and fee structure so as to make the State government helpless," informed Dr. Malakaraddy.

When asked about the PG courses, he said that Medical Council of India (MCI) had changed the academic year for the first year MBBS from June to October as the process of admission to the first year MBBS was delayed every year and continued till the end of November. However the seat matrix is expected to be announced soon, he said.