Altaf Bukhari seeks reservation for J&K candidates in NEET

Former Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Friday urged the Central government to issue a notification providing 100 per cent reservation to J&K candidates in allotment of Post Graduate seats in different medical/dental colleges of the erstwhile state.

In a statement issued here, Bukhari expressed serious concern over the prevailing obscurity around the whole exercise of filling post-graduate seats in different disciplines in SKIMS-Deemed University and other Medical Colleges of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The candidates of Jammu and Kashmir appeared in the examination conducted through NEET after facing tremendous hardships including Internet shutdown. They braved all odds with a hope that they will get their share of seats through the same procedure which was in vogue before August 5, 2019," Bukhari said while soliciting the personal intervention of Prime Minster Narendra Modi in this regard.

He appealed to the Prime Minster to convey to the Ministry of Home Affairs that Jammu and Kashmir should not be a part of the All India Quota for PG medical courses and keep 100 per cent of Jammu & Kashmir's seats reserved for its local students.

"This has been one of our top most political demands submitted before the government of India that our residents/students should have 100 per cent reservation to professional courses in various streams and disciplines offered in medicine and engineering by our medical colleges, engineering colleges and deemed universities of Jammu and Kashmir," Bukhari observed.

He urged the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) not to go for counselling of All India Quota seats of Jammu and Kashmir for all medical/dental colleges, institutes as per merit of PG NEET 2020 till the Central government comes up with clarity in this regard.

"The reconstitution of Board of Professional Entrance Examinations has made students in Jammu and Kashmir anxious amid larger worries that the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A has stripped them of their special status. This will eventually fuel a surge of outsiders into medical and engineering colleges in Jammu and Kashmir," Bukhari remarked.

He urged the Centre to rebuild and regain the lost trust and confidence of Jammu and Kashmir students by ordering 100 per cent reservation for them in various professional courses as has been promised by the Prime Minister and Home Minister on the floor of Parliament.

The former finance minister echoed the concern of the people of Jammu and Kashmir saying that earlier, J&K had 100 per cent of seats reserved for its students in its own medical colleges and now, after its bifurcation into two union territories, it is not clear whether it will have that reservation or not.

"As a goodwill gesture and a confidence building measure, the Central government must restrict all the professional seats available in different medical colleges of the erstwhile State, for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir and address their genuine concerns about losing career opportunities," Bukhari said.ians