MAHARASHTRA UNAIDED PRIVATE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (REGULATION OF ADMISSION TO THE FULL TIME PROFESSIONAL POST-GRADUATE COURSES IN PHYSIOTHERAPY (M.P.TH), OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (M.O.TH), AUDIOLOGY, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY (M.A.S.L.P.) AND PROSTHETICS AND ORTHOTICS [M.SC (P AND O)] COURSES RULES, 2016

PREAMBLE

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 23 of the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015 (Mah. XXVIII of 2015), the Government of Maharashtra hereby makes the following rules to regulate the admissions to the First Year of the Full Time Professional Post-graduate Courses in Physiotherapy (M.P.Th), Occupational Therapy (M.O.Th), Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology (M.A.S.L.P.) and Prosthetics and Orthotics [M.Sc (P and O)] courses in the Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions in the State of Maharashtra, namely:-

Rule - 1. Short title.

(1)     These rules may be called the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission to the Full Time Professional Post-graduate Courses in Physiotherapy (M.P.Th), Occupational Therapy (M.O.Th), Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology (M.A.S.L.P.) and Prosthetics and Orthotics [M.Sc (P and O)] courses Rules, 2016.

 

(2)     They shall come into force with effect from the date they are published in the Gazette.

Rule - 2. Definitions.

(1)     In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a)      "Act" means the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015 (Mah. XXVIII of 2015);

 

(b)      "Admission Reporting Institution" means a institution where the Candidate shall report for confirmation of admission by submission of documents and payment of fees;

 

(c)      "Application Form" means the prescribed Form to be filled up for online or offline by the candidate for admission to the Courses as defined in clause (f);

 

(d)      "CAP Seats" means the seats filled in through the Centralized Admission Process (CAP) carried out by the Competent Authority;

 

(e)      "CET" means the Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted for admission to the Courses under this rule;

 

(f)       "Courses" means the Post-graduate Courses in Physiotherapy (M.P.Th), Occupational Therapy (M.O.Th), Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology (M.A.S.L.P.) and Prosthetics and Orthotics [M.Sc (P and O)] Courses, as the case may be, conducted in the State;

 

(g)      "Document Verification Centre" means the city or town where the document verification is to be conducted;

 

(h)     "Eligible Candidates" means the candidates who are eligible for different professional courses as notified by the Government, from time to time, under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act;

 

(i)       "Internship" means the compulsory rotating internship to be completed as per rules of Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Act, 2002 (Mah. II of 2004) and as per the rules of the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 (34 of 1992), for Audio speech and Language Pathology and Prosthetics and Orthotics and the concerned University;

 

(j)       "Inter-se-Merit" means the order of merit in respect of various classes, category and candidature types of the Candidates determined by following the CET merit in accordance with these rules;

 

(k)      "Institutional Quota" means the seats available for admission to eligible Candidates at Institution level as declared by the State Government or the appropriate authority, from time to time;

 

(l)       "Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy" means The Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Constituted under the Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Act, 2002 (Mah. II of 2004);

 

(m)    "Minority Quota" means the seats earmarked for the Minority Community students from within the State, belonging to the Minority Community to which the institution belongs;

 

(n)     "MUHS" means the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences established under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences Act, 1998 (Mah. X of 1999);

 

(o)      "Qualifying Examination" means examinations on the basis of which a candidate becomes eligible for admission or its equivalent examination thereto;

 

(p)      "the RCI" means the Rehabilitation Council of India Constituted under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992;

 

(q)      "Registration" means the registration of the Post-graduate qualification either with the Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy or the Rehabilitation Council of India for BASLP and BPO.

 

(2)     Words and expressions used in these rules but not defined hereinabove shall have the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in the Act.

Rule - 3. Invitation of Application Form.

The Competent Authority shall invite Online or Offline Applications, in the form prescribed by it, from the candidates for participating in Common Entrance Test (CET) for seeking admission to the Courses for which the Common Entrance Test (CET) is required for the respective academic year.

Rule - 4. Declaration of Medium, Pattern, Syllabus, Schedule, etc.

(1)     The Competent Authority shall, for the purpose of conducting the declare the following.-

(a)      Medium of CET;

 

(b)      Pattern of CET;

 

(c)      Mode of CET;

 

(d)      Schedule of CET;

 

(e)      Issue of Hall Ticket;

 

(f)       Declaration of Result, etc.;

 

(g)      the detailed schedule regarding the Centralized Admission Process (CAP) rounds, admission on the basis of Institutional Quota, admission by Minority Educational Institution, and other matter relating to admission; and

 

(h)     any other matter which is, or may be, necessary for the purposes of conducting the CET.

 

(2)     The Syllabus relating to the CET shall be declared by the Competent Authority with prior approval of the Government of Maharashtra.

Rule - 5. Candidature Type.

(1)     General Candidature.-Candidate must be an Indian National. Nationality Certificate issued by District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate or Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or valid passport or School Leaving Certificate of 12th Std. indicating the nationality of the candidate as "INDIAN" shall constitute the proof of nationality. Persons of Indian Origin (PIO), Non Resident Indian (NRI), Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) are not eligible.

All candidates, who have passed final B.P.Th, B.O.Th, BASLP and BPO, examinations from the College or Institution situated in the State of Maharashtra are eligible to appear for this examination provided he or she has completed prescribed duration of compulsory rotating internship by 31st August.

The candidate who have obtained registration from the respective Council shall be eligible to appear.

(2)     Minority Candidature.-Candidate belonging to a particular linguistic or religious minority community fulfilling eligibility criteria as per sub-rule (1) of this rule 5 shall be eligible under this Category.

(3)     NRI Candidature.-The candidate who fulfill the conditions as defined in clause (n) of section 2 of the Act shall be eligible under this category.

Rule - 6. Sanctioned Intake Seats for various Courses.

The Sanctioned Intake for the First Year of the Courses shall be as per the approval given by the appropriate authority which is competent for giving approval to respective courses and affiliation given by the respective affiliating University.

Rule - 7. Allocation of Seats.

The percentage of allocation of seats for various types of candidates through CET for First Year of the Courses shall be specified in the SCHEDULE and in accordance with the policy of the Government for First Year of the Courses.

(1)     General Candidature Seats.-The Candidates as specified in sub-rules (1) of rule 5, shall be eligible for these seats.

 

(2)     Minority Quota Seats.-The Candidates having Candidature mentioned in sub-rule (2) of rule 5 shall be eligible for these seats as specified in the SCHEDULE. These seats shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 6, of the Act.

 

(3)     Institutional Quota Seats.-The Institution can admit Eligible Candidates against the Sanctioned Intake, as per the SCHEDULE, subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(i)       The Candidates having Candidature mentioned in sub-rules (1), (2) and (3) of rule 5 shall be eligible for these seats, if applicable.

 

(ii)      The maximum 15% seats may be filled in from the NRI Candidates at the Institution level, subject to the approval by Admission Regulating Authority.

 

(iii)     If the seats reserved for the NRI quota remains vacant, those vacant seats may be filled in by the Institution, from the Eligible General Candidature as given in sub-rules (1) and (2) of rule 5 on the basis of Inter-se-merit.

Rule - 8. Preparation of Merit List.

(1)     Assignment of merit number.-The Competent Authority shall evaluate the answer sheets of the candidates and declare the result or marks scored by candidate at the CET. The final merit list shall be generated after completing procedure of verification of marks;

 

(2)     Method of calculating marks at qualifying examination for deciding eligibility.-While deciding the eligibility of the Candidates following procedure shall be adopted,-

(a)      Marks obtained by the candidate at the PGP-CET/PGO-CET/PGASLP and M.Sc.(P and o)-CET will form the basis of the selection candidate shall be selected on the basis of the merit in common entrance test to the concern course.

(3)     Assignment of Merit Number for various Courses.-

(i)       For admission to First Year PGP-CET/PGO-CET/PGASLP and M.Sc.(P and o)-CET.-

(ii)      The merit list for the Candidates shall be prepared on the basis of marks or score secured by the Candidate in the CET conducted by the Competent Authority for the purpose of admission to these Courses for the given academic year, the following procedure shall be adopted for deciding Inter-se-Merit,-

(a)      The candidate with higher aggregate marks (converted into percentage) at First, Second, Third and Fourth year Examinations of B.P.Th. / B.O.Th. taken together and at First, Second and Third year Examinations of B.A.S.L.P./ BPO taken together shall be preferred. If the tie still persists,

 

(b)      The candidate with more marks (converted into percentage) at fourth year B.P.Th./ B.O.Th. or third year B.A.S.L.P. / BPO examination will be preferred. If the tie still persists,

 

(c)      The candidate with more marks (converted into percentage) at third year B.P.Th./ B.O.Th. or second year B.A.S.L.P. / BPO examination will be preferred. If the tie still persists, An older candidate will be preferred over a younger candidate.

 

(d)      While considering aggregate marks for above purpose, grace marks and NSS marks shall not be taken into account.

 

(4)     Method for calculating NRI merit.-

The merit list for the NRI Candidates stated at sub-rule (3) of rule 5 shall be prepared on the basis of the percentage of marks of Qualifying Examination.

Rule - 9. Centralised Admission Process (CAP).

(1)     The Unaided Private Professional Educational Institution shall admit Candidates through the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) as referred in sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Act. The stages of CAP shall be as stated below,-

(a)      Display or Publishing of college wise, subject wise and category wise distribution of seats on website;

 

(b)      Display or Publishing of Time Schedule and Venue for Preference Form filling process on website;

 

(c)      Display or Publishing Brochure of Preference Form filling and counselling process for admission to Courses;

 

(d)      Verification of documents and endorsement of eligibility of the successful candidates for the admission process at the document verification centre, Mumbai, followed by filling up of Preference Form by the eligible candidates;

 

(e)      Display or Publishing of allotment of seats for Round-I of CAP by way of computerised process and joining of the candidates at respective institution as per the allotment within stipulated time;

 

(f)       Display or Publishing of subsequent computerised round(s) if seats remain vacant after completion of CAP Round-I;

 

(2)     Candidate shall be given a chance to retain a seat that has been allotted, by way of status retention form at the end of each CAP round. If a Candidate accepts the offered seat and they do not want to participate in any further rounds of seat allocation then such Candidates shall not be considered in subsequent rounds of admission.

Rule - 10. CAP allotment stages and process of allotment.

Allotment of seats under CAP shall be made in the following manner,-

(1)     General Candidature.-The stages of computerised allotments are as follows.-

Stage-I: For all the Candidates.-

(a)      All the Candidates shall be considered for allotment of seats as per their Inter-se-Merit.

 

(b)      The Minority category candidate shall be considered for allotment in Open Category seats by virtue of their Inter-se-Merit and in Minority Quota seats by virtue of merit in their respective minority community to which the institution belongs.

 

(c)      In Private unaided institutions constitutional reservation is 25 percent of total sanctioned intake as per the Maharashtra Government Notification, Medical Education and Drugs Department, No. MED 2006/1196/CR-204/06/EDU-1(1), dated 24th June 2006. Reservation from Private Unaided Institutions/Colleges is as mentioned below-

(d)      Candidates belonging to aforesaid Backward Class categories will be required to submit the Caste Certificate and the Caste/Tribe Validity Certificate at the time of documents verification.

 

(e)      Inter-se amongst the reserved categories will be operated at the end of each admission process against the unfilled reserved categories seats as per merit and choice of the reserved categories candidates.

Stage-II.- The seats remaining vacant from various categories will be filled in during inter-se admission process as follows,-

(a)      From among the candidates of their respective group from the Inter-se-Merit List of that particular group where the vacancies exist.

The groups are as follows-

GROUP - I

(i)       Scheduled Castes and Schedule Caste converted to Buddhism (S.C.)

(ii)      Scheduled Tribes including those living out-side specified area (S.T.)

GROUP - II

(i)       VimuktaJati (DT) (A)

(ii)      Nomadic Tribes [NT1 (B)]

GROUP - III

(i)       Nomadic Tribes [NT2 (C)]

 

(ii)      Nomadic Tribes [NT3 (D)]

 

(iii)     Other Backward Classes (OBC) including SBC

(b)      If the seats still remain vacant, then the seats will be filled, from among the candidates of all the categories mentioned above from the all categories combined merit list.

 

(c)      If the seats still remain vacant then the seats will be filled from among the candidates of the common merit list.

Ear-Marking: Reserved category candidate entitled to admission on the basis of merit in an open category seat will have the option of taking admission either against his/her respective category seat or on an open category seat. If he/she opts for the reserved category he/she will be deemed to have been admitted as an open category candidate and not as reserved category candidate. One seat in the college where he/she was eligible for admission against open seat shall be earmarked for a candidate belonging to the respective reserved category. Such earmarked seat will be made available immediately to the successive reserved category candidate from the same category merit.

(2)     For Minority Candidature.-The stages of computerised allotments are as follows:

(a)      The Minority category candidate shall be considered for allotment in Open category seats by virtue of their Inter-se-Merit and in Minority Quota seats by virtue of merit in their respective minority community to which the institution belongs.

 

(b)      For minority seats, Inter-se-Merit will be operated at the end of each round if necessary, against the unfilled minority category seats as per merit.

Rule - 11. Allotment of seats by CAP Computerised and CAP personal Round.

All the CAP Rounds shall be conducted by computerised allotment.

(a)      If the seat remains vacant due to non-allotment and non-reporting for admission, or any other reason, such seat shall be considered for allotment in subsequent round.

(b)      Final personal counselling round shall be conducted for the unfilled seats. The preferences filled by the candidates shall be null and void for this personal counselling round.

All those candidates shall not be eligible for this personal counselling round,-

(i)       who have not filled preference form; or

 

(ii)      to whom a seat has been allotted in computerised CAP round(s) and not joined;

 

(iii)     who have filled status retention form; or

 

(iv)    candidate for whom a seat has been allotted in the previous round(s) and joined the college, but resigned the seat.

Rule - 12. General provisions.

(a)      Allotment of the subsequent computerised round(s) shall be on the basis of same preferences submitted by the candidate during preference form filling process.

 

(b)      All the candidates who have filled a preference form and a seat has not been allotted shall be eligible for the subsequent computerised round(s).

 

(c)      All the candidates who have filled a preference form and a seat has been allotted and joined the course and not filled the status retention form shall be eligible for the subsequent computerised round(s).

 

(d)      All the candidates who have filled a preference form and a seat has been allotted and joined the course and filled the Status retention form shall not be eligible for the subsequent computerised round(s).

 

(e)      The allotment list displayed on website shall show the allotment offered to the Candidates. No personal communication or allotment letters in this regard shall be issued to the Candidates;

 

(f)       All the candidates to whom a seat has been allotted on the basis of Merit-cum-preference shall have to compulsorily join the college and course so allotted, within prescribed period by completing the requisite formalities of submitting all relevant original documents and paying prescribed fees in the concern institution. In case he/she does not join the course he or she shall not be eligible for subsequent admission process.

 

(g)      Failure to report in person for seat acceptance shall be considered as if the candidate has rejected the offer.

 

(h)     Allotted Seat shall be cancelled if, at any time, any of the documents or certificates is found to be invalid or fraudulent and/or the Candidate does not meet the eligibility norms.

Rule - 13. Admissions in Institutional Quota and vacant seats after CAP.

The Director or Principal of the institution shall carry out the admissions for these seats in the following manner.-

(a)      Admissions shall be made in a transparent manner and strictly as per the Inter-se-Merit of the candidate who have applied to the Institution.

 

(b)      Information brochure or prospectus of the Institution which specifies rules of admission should be published well before the commencement of the process of admission. All the information in the brochures should also be displayed on the Institution's website.

 

(c)      Institution shall invite applications by notifying schedule of admission and the number of seats in each course to be filled by the institution, by advertisement in at least two leading newspapers and on the website of the institution.

 

(d)      Aspiring Candidates fulfilling the eligibility criteria as notified by the Government and specified by the appropriate authority, from time to time, shall apply to the Principal or Director of the respective institution for admission at the Institution level.

 

(e)      The institution may give admission to the applicants on the basis of their Inter-se-Merit derived from the Merit list declared by the Competent Authority for filling the seats in the Institutional Quota:

 

Provided that, where the appropriate authority specifies that such admissions shall be based on the basis of CET, in that case the Institutional quota, shall be filled on the basis of Inter-se-Merit.

(f)       The institution shall prepare and display the Inter-se-Merit lists of the Candidates to be filled in at the institution level, in the Institutional Quota and shall publish the same on the website of the institution.

 

(g)      The Minority or Non-Minority institution intending to surrender the Institutional Quota (in part or full) of specified courses to the CAP shall communicate at least one week before the display of seat matrix of each CAP Round and the same shall be allotted as per the rules of CAP.

 

(h)     All the admissions and cancellations shall be communicated to the Competent Authority within the prescribed period given by the Competent Authority, from time to time.

Rule - 14. Institution Level Round.-

If the seats remain vacant after all CAP Rounds, the said seats shall be filled in by the institution through Institution Level Round with the prior approval of the Competent Authority. The institute shall invite applications from desirous candidates who are declared eligible in the CET. The admission shall be granted by the institution strictly on the basis of Inter-se-Merit of the CET.

Rule - 15. Approval of Merit List and the Admitted Candidates List.

(1)     After completion of Admission process, every Unaided Private Professional Educational Institution shall submit the Admission- approval proposal to the Admission Regulating Authority in accordance with the subsection (5) of section 9 of the Act.

 

(2)     The Admission-approval proposal shall include the list of all Candidates admitted which shall have the quota, Candidature type, Qualification Marks, etc., as well as the required documents of the Candidates admitted at institution level.

Rule - 16. Refund of fees after cancellation of admission by Institutions.

(a)      Refund of fees by the college after change of college, course or cancellation of admission, (1) On or before such date as may be declared by the competent authority date Rs. 1500 (Rs. One Thousand Five Hundred only) to be deducted and rest of the fees which is entitled to be refunded to the candidate, shall be refunded immediately. (2) After such date as may be declared by the competent authority - No refund.

 

(b)      If a candidate expires or becomes unfit to undergo the Courses as decided by notified Medical Board within 3 months from the date of admission, full refund shall be made.

Rule - 17. Change of Course or Institution.

After Cut-off date of admission on mutual basis, change of Course or Institution shall not be permitted.

Rule - 18. Conduct and Discipline.

(a)      Failure of the candidate in making full and correct statements in the application form and/or suppression of any information shall lead to disqualification of the candidate, even at later date. Such a candidate shall be debarred from the entire selection process.

 

(b)      It is responsibility of every candidate to submit proper documents. Any attempt to submit documents which are not genuine shall lead to cancellation of the admission of the candidate, forfeiture of the fees, deposits and expulsion of the candidate from the college by the Competent Authority or by his authorised official. The name of such candidate/s shall be deleted from the State Merit List and he/she shall not be eligible for further rounds of the selection process and shall be debarred from the selection process.

 

(c)      If any candidate or Authorised representative or person accompanying is found obstructing the counseling or admission process, or trying to influence in unlawful manner or creating nuisance, the candidate shall be liable for disqualification from the process of selection and appropriate legal action shall be taken. The decision taken by the Competent Authority in this respect shall be final and binding.

 

(d)      Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik shall take the decision regarding eligibility, enrolment and registration and granting of the term of selected candidates. The selection of a candidate by the Competent Authority at a later date does not place any onus to accord approval for grant of term.

 

(e)      Canvassing directly or indirectly for the allotment of seat would disqualify the candidate for admission. Influencing the staff by unfair means, shall lead to cancellation of allotted seat and such candidate shall also face disqualification for appearance in the subsequent Postgraduate CET.

 

(f)       In case of dispute in the matter of allotment of seat or course or institution or any other matter pertaining to the provisional selection or cancellation of admission, the decision of the Competent Authority shall be final and binding.

Schedule

(See rule 7)