SMVDS Medical College Faces Uproar
01/12/2025
K N Pandita
Chief Minister Omar Abdulla defends a bizarre and controversial event that happened recently at the SMVD Hospital at Kakriyal, Katra. The admission of MBBS students in the SMVD Medical College has become a subject of controversy.
The controversy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir after 42 out of 50 MBBS seats at the newly established Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) went to Muslim students in the first-ever admission cycle for the 2025–26 session. This development has sparked strong reactions from the BJP’s J&K unit and several right-wing groups, which are demanding the cancellation of the “merit-based list” released through the NEET counselling process. The SMVD Medical College, at Kakryal, Katra, run by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and created through a 1999 State Assembly Act, was allotted 50 MBBS seats for its inaugural batch. Of these, 42 seats were secured by Muslim students, seven by Hindu students, and one by a Sikh student.
The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, defended the selection, arguing that it was based on merit. He said that those protesting against the admission process are giving a communal colour to the issue. At the same time, there is nothing in the Act or the bye-laws that speaks of a communal angle in the list of successful candidates announced formally.
The Shrine
According to Hindu mythology, Vaishno Devi is believed to be an incarnation of the Goddess Mahalakshmi, Mahakali, and Mahasaraswati. The legend narrates that she was born as a young girl named Vaishnavi to a devout Brahmin couple.
Today, the Vaishno Devi shrine is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in India, attracting millions of devotees annually. The pilgrimage involves a trek of approximately 13 kilometres from the base camp at Katra to the Bhawan, the holy cave shrine where Mata Vaishno Devi is believed to reside.
The legend of Vaishno Devi remains an integral part of Hindu religious beliefs and cultural heritage, inspiring devotion and reverence among the devotees who undertake the pilgrimage in search of spiritual fulfilment and divine blessings.
The shrine has a history. It is a Hindu sanctuary, discovered, developed, managed and taken care of by the Hindu community, especially of the Jammu region and some national-level Hindu organisations.
The shrine was originally given its identity by Maharaja Gulab Singh, who had placed its management in the hands of the Dharmarth Trust in 1851.
(Act No XVI of 1988)
[Received the assent of the Governor on 31st August, 1988 and published in the Government Gazette dated 1st September, 1988]. Its highlights are as follows:
An Act to provide for the better management, administration and governance of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and its endowments, including the lands and buildings attached, or appurtenant, to the Shrine, beginning from Katra up to the holy cave and the adjoining hillocks currently under the management of the Dharmarth Trust. Be it enacted by the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature in the Thirty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:––
1. Short title and commencement: This Act may be called the Jammu and Kashmir Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Act, 1988. It shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from 30.8.1986.
2. Act to override other laws: This Act shall have effect, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law or in any scheme of management, decree, custom, usage or instrument.
3. Definitions: In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires (a) “Board” means the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board constituted under this Act (b) “Endowment” means all property, moveable or immovable, belonging to, or given or endowed for the maintenance, improvement, additions to, or worship in the Shrine or for the performance of any service or charity connected therewith and includes the idols installed therein, the premises of the Shrine and gifts of property made to anyone within the precincts of the Shrine and lands and buildings attached or appurtenant thereto, beginning from Katra up to the holy cave and the adjoining hillocks currently under the management of the Dharmarth Trust or property belonging to Baridar or Baridars’ Association within the area specified in the preamble of this Act ;
The Act makes it clear that the J&K Government did not allocate any land to the Shrine. According to the Act, the land under the shrine and that from the beginning of Katra up to the holy cave and the adjoining hillocks currently under the management of the Dharmarth Trust belong to the Shrine Board. The Chief Minister’s claim that “we”, meaning the J&K Legislative Assembly or the government, gave land to the SMVD Board is not correct.
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, created by virtue of the Act cited above, comprises nine government-nominated members and the Lt. Governor as the ex officio Chairman.
With the objective of fostering Health Care Services in J&K, particularly in under-served regions, on 19 April 2016, the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated a super speciality hospital as an integral part of SMVD Institute of Medical Excellence. A state-of-the-art, 467-bed Shri Mata Vishnu Devi Narayana super speciality—a NABH-accredited institution was inaugurated at Kukryal, Katra. Two years later, a College of Nursing also came up on the premises.
The Shrine Board granted approval to a 50-seat Medical College in accordance with the National Medical Commission’s norms. A 34 Acre parcel of land, previously unused by SMVD University, was proposed for the construction of a 5-storey Medical College over 11 Acres. The proposal is to build a Central Library, an auditorium, hostels for boys and girls, and a playground. The hospital will be upgraded with the addition of 250 beds and necessary infrastructure. Twenty-six specialities are available to medical students.
The preamble to the inception of SMDS Medical College nowhere mentions either the words “secular or non-secular” basis for admission to the Medical College, but it does emphasise “merit”, the point to which the chief minister clings. A medical degree is perhaps the most prestigious degree in our country, and the central and state governments expect that only meritorious candidates should find entrance to medical colleges.
Nevertheless, taking into account the demographic composition of our country, the diversity of its social and economic structure and the unavoidable compulsions of democratic dispensation, it has become necessary to cater to the sensitivities of all ethnic and social groups.
The entire complex called the MVD Shrine is being developed as a township. This has come up not through any largesse of the state but through voluntary donations of the Hindu community, individuals, groups and organisations throughout India and abroad. No other religious entity has made any contribution to its establishment. The government does not figure anywhere in its structure, and only the Trust and now the Board matter.
Secondly, while conceding merit as the decisive factor in the admission of students for MBBS, it is highly desirable that the profile of the 42 selected Muslim candidates be scrutinised, not on the basis of religion but with regard to the fraud and swindling that bedevil our professional educational institutions. We have the example of Al Falah School of Medicine before us. It is the responsibility of the SMVD Medical college authorities, the Board and more importantly, the Honourable Lt Governor – the ex officio Chairman of the Board, to order a probe into the colleges from which the “meritorious 42 Muslim students” have been selected. A common suspicion is that such a large number of students getting admission on the basis of merit in the fixed number of seats is not only surprising but questionable. From which school/college did they obtain 10+2? What is the educational standard of the schools involved and the competence of their science teachers? From which Board of School Education did they pass the 10+2, and what is the reputation of the examiners who interviewed the prospective candidates? These questions have to be raised and answered. It is the responsibility of the Chairman of the SMVD Shrine Board to immediately order the sealing of all documents and records about the issue and hand over the case to the NIA because it is a serious matter related to the future of the nation, and nobody should take it lightly. Merit has its place, but how one manages to get the merit is equally significant. The educational record of the meritorious students needs to be scrutinised to remove all doubts. Leakage of question papers before the examination is another curse that plagues the education system.
The crucial issue is that since a prestigious shrine, one among the foremost in the country, is raised, supported, funded and developed solely the Hindu community, and none other, much less the Islamic for which showing even the smallest acknowledgement of an ‘idol house’ is strictly forbidden, why should it not be accepted formally as a Minority community institution? The Muslims are more than 67 % in J&K, and as such, SMVDS deserves to be declared a Minority Institution once and for all.
It is strange that at the time of formation of the Board, the organisers did not take the cue from similar Boards or Trusts, exclusively sponsored and managed by the Hindu or Sikh communities.
(Shri K.N. Pandita is the former Director of the Centre for Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University)
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