The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is said to have blacklisted 37 colleges in the State for making excess admissions in violation of the PCI norms and with the pretext that the AICTE has permitted them so.

The PCI central council meeting held in New Delhi recently is said to have taken the decision as some colleges have admitted 200 students though the original sanctioned strength is only 60. As per the PCI norms, the maximum strength can go up to 100 if the colleges are more than four years old while it has to be 60 for colleges established in the last four years.

K. Ramdass, general secretary of the A.P. Pharmacy Colleges Association, has said that PCI president B. Suresh will be meeting Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on May 9 along with the managements of pharmacy colleges to discuss the issue of excess admissions. He is also likely to discuss other issues with regard to pharmacy education in the State.

The PCI and AICTE have been at loggerheads over the authority on pharmacy education in the country. While the PCI claims that it should decide on admissions and administrative aspects of pharmacy education, the AICTE maintains that it has the authority to sanction additional seats in the existing colleges apart from sanctioning new colleges.

Source : HINDU