Srinagar: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has withdrawn the permission granted in September last year to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (SMVD) Institute of Medical Excellence in Jammu and Kashmir to open admissions for the MBBS course.
The decision came hours after the activists of the newly-floated SMVD Sangharsh Samiti which is backed by the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party held a protest outside the civil secretariat in Jammu on Tuesday against the admission of Muslim and other non-Hindu students to the institute.
According to reports on January 6, the NMC, citing “severe findings about non-compliance with minimum standards”, has withdrawn the ‘Letter of Permission’ granted to the SMVD University whose board runs the medical institute.
Notably, Union health minister is J.P. Nadda and Union health secretary is 1993-batch IAS officer Punya Salila Srivastava.
Of the 50 students from the first batch who got admission last year on the basis of their NEET rankings, 47 are Muslims and one is a Sikh while only two are Hindus. The NMC has ordered their placement at other government medical colleges of the Union territory.
Earlier, a team of the commission carried out “surprise inspection” of the institute in Kakryal area of Reasi district on January 3 following a “request” by the Samiti, Sukhvir Singh Mankotia, convener of the outfit which is spearheading the agitation in Jammu said in a statement on January 4.
The Samiti which has the backing of the Hindutva groups has threatened to launch a mass agitation in Jammu against what it terms was “discrimination against the Hindus” while warning the government that the presence of Muslims and non-Hindu students could trigger law and order problems at the institute.
This story was originally published in thewire.in.
