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St John’s Academy apologises to HC over notice on its website

St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, tendered an unconditional apology to the Karnataka High Court on Thursday for displaying a notice on the academy’s website.

Dr George A D’Souza, dean of the academy, informed the court that the notice will be removed from the website. The notice had said that “It is approaching the High Court to have St John’s PG admissions 2017-18 declared valid on several legal grounds. St John’s is confident of getting a favourable verdict from the High Court validating its PG admissions for 2017-18.”

The notice was in response to the letter from the Directorate of Medical Education which had informed the academy that its procedure and grounds for admission for PG was considered invalid.

A division bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Justice N K Sudhindra Rao in its order said that it found the notice on the website “objectionable’’.

The bench, while hearing a petition filed by Dr Rachana Kishore Ubrangala, an MBBS graduate from Mangaluru, had granted stay on the admission process for the postgraduate medical courses at St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences.

The bench also stayed the collection of fees from candidates named in the provisional list for admission to the PG medical course (if the fee is yet to be collected) and directed St John’s to keep one seat of MD (Paediatrics) vacant.

The petitioner had contended that though she had secured high marks in NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), she was not considered for the provisional list. Other students with lower ranks were considered for admission at the academy, she contended.

‘Own selection process’

The petitioner said that St John’s Academy, instead of adhering to the Supreme Court-approved selection criterion based on the NEET ranking as fixed by the Medical Council of India, has prescribed its own selection process. The academy has included practical test scores and interview in addition to the NEET ranking.

The bench, in its previous order, had said, “It prima facie appears that the MCI regulations provide for NEET ranking, and such criteria will be diluted if any other marks are considered, like practical test, interview etc.”