Months before it became ground zero of protests against admission being granted to Muslim students, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) had sought permission from central authorities – thrice – to place all its seats under the All India Quota, The Indian Express has learnt.
Typically, 85% of seats in a medical college are allocated to students from the state based on their NEET scores, while 15% are allotted under the All India Quota as per the national merit list. In the case of this institute, the first-ever 50-student MBBS batch for 2025-26 had 44 Muslim students. “A college has no say in who gets admission; it is completely based on merit,” said an official.
Being able to place all its seats under the All India Quota would have allowed the institute to change the demography in the classroom, officials pointed out.
All three times, however, the request was rejected.
“In the first half of 2025, we wrote to three authorities requesting that all seats be included under the All India Quota. The first was the National Medical Commission (NMC), which rejected the request, citing a lack of jurisdiction to entertain such petitions. Next, we sent official requests to the Union Health Ministry and the Director General of Health Services. However, these requests were also rejected,” said a senior institute official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to officials at the Centre, “Only some central government hospitals and deemed universities are permitted to place 100% of their seats under the All India Quota.”
Protests against Muslim students at the college have been led by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti, a group of nearly 60 pro-RSS and pro-BJP organisations. Their rationale is that the college was set up using offerings made at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine by Hindu pilgrims from across the country. While the Samiti initially demanded the ouster of Muslim students, they eventually sought that the course be shut down entirely.
Officials acknowledged that the Letter of Permission (LoP) for the MBBS course being withdrawn just months after it was granted in September, and just days after an inspection, was peculiar. Experts who have earlier worked with the NMC said that such a decision usually follows a months-long procedure.
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According to sources, colleges are typically served a show-cause notice based on online data or a surprise inspection. Based on the reply, a decision is taken, followed by a first appeal before the NMC and a second appeal before the health ministry. “Officials from the regulatory body confirmed that no appeal has been filed by the college so far,” a source said.
MBBS students from the college will be moved to other colleges in the union territory, the officials said. “Most of the students will be accommodated in government colleges — this is one of the stipulations in the essentiality certificate that state governments have to grant every medical college,” the official said. The students were paying Rs 5 lakh per annum for the course.
The Health Ministry did not respond to queries on the development.
