The admission tests for enrolment in both public and private medical and dental colleges for the 2012-13 academic session will be held on November 23.
Shah Abdul Latif, director of medical education of the directorate general of health services, on Monday evening said that admission forms would be available online
from September 18.
The announcement was made hours after the High Court had directed the government on the day to immediately start the process for enrolment in medical and dental
colleges for the 2012-13 academic session by holding admission tests.
A special bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif passed the order disposing of an application on which a two-judge bench had earlier passed split orders.
The government on August 12 decided that from this academic session admission of students to the first year MBBS and BDS courses would be based on their results in the
SSC and HSC examinations instead of holding tests, a system which had been followed for last 40 years.
After hearing an application filed by Supreme Court lawyer Md Eunus Ali Akond, the vacation bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal had
passed the spilt orders.
Justice Quamrul Islam had allowed the application asking the government to start the admission process as early as possible by restoring the system of admission tests,
while Justice Md Ashraful Kamal rejected the plea.
The Chief Justice, Md Muzammel Hossain, assigned Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif to hear and dispose of the application after the split orders were referred to him.
As the matter came up for hearing by the one-judge bench of Justice Hassan Arif on Monday, attorney general Mahbubey Alam opposed issuance of any interim order prior
to disposal of the rules issued by another bench on it.
Mahbubey Alam also termed ‘premature’ the application, which was filed seeking a directive on the government to start the admission process under the previous system,
although the authorities had not yet taken a final decision on the new admission system.
On Sunday, deputy attorney general Motaher Hossain Sazu told the same bench that the government had decided to enrol MBBS and BDS students for this session by holding
admission tests and the court adjourned the hearing on the application till Monday asking Motaher to file an affidavit-in-opposition.
Mahbbuey Alam explained that the affidavit could not be submitted to the court because the government was yet to announce a final decision by gazette notification.
The petitioner Eunus Ali submitted that the government decision to introduce a new admission system was contradictory to Clause 1 of Chapter 10 of the national
education policy 2010, which promises that the system of admission tests in medical and dental colleges would continue.
He also referred to Clause 1 of Chapter 23 of the national education policy 2010 which promised to complete the process of admission tests for higher education in a
month after publication of results of the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations.
The application for holding MBBS and BDS admission tests was supplementary to a previous writ petition filed by Eunus in response to which the High Court on August 14
had asked the government to explain in four weeks the legality of the new admission system.
On August 27, the vacation bench, after hearing a fresh writ petition filed by Barisal
General Hospital’s physician AKM Mizanur Rahman challenging the government decision, also issued a rule asking for an explanation of the legality of the decision.
During the pendency of the hearing of the writ petitions, admission-seekers staged protests for 20 days against the new admission system and asked the government to
cancel its decision.
They postponed the agitations after health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, at a meeting with representatives of the admission-seekers on September 2, assured them that
admission tests would be held for enrolment in medical and dental colleges this academic year.
The health minister gave the assurance on the condition that the existing system for admission to MBBS and BDS courses would be followed if the writ petitions in this
regard were withdrawn.
Courtesy of New Age
