Good bye to multiple entrance tests for Maharashtra Medical colleges from 2016-17

The Supreme Court has rejected the Association of Maharashtra’s private medical college’s appeal to conduct its own Common Entrance Test (CET) on March 8, 2016. From the academic year 2016-17 onwards, admissions into both state and private colleges will be accepted on the basis of a single entrance test which is conducted by the Maharashtra state CET cell.

 The Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions that lays down the state common Entrance Test clause, was challenged by the Association of Managements of Unaided and Private Medical and Dental Colleges in the Bombay HC in August 2015, and the case had eventually wound up in the SC.

 Although the petition has been issued only for medical PGET, the order is being considered exemplary for all other entrance tests that will be conducted by the state under the provisions of the new act.

 MHT-Common Entrance Test (CET 2016) is scheduled to be held on May 05, 2016 for all undergraduate Health Sciences, Engineering and Pharmacy Degree programs for the academic year 2016-17. The Under Graduate CET will be conducted by the association only if the final order on the validity of the act is passed before May, official sources said.

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A knowledgeable source from a leading coaching institute said, "There is no confusion among students right now as the state has made it clear that private colleges are also included in the UG CET. In case there is a ruling before the test on May 5, students will have to appear for another exam with the same syllabus”.

This move comes at a time when students have been forced to face malpractices associated with private colleges as well as the trauma of multiple entrance exams. Introduction of a single CET for medical admissions is seen as the panacea to this situation." say educational theorists.