Jan. 22: The Gauhati Medical College Students’ Union has asked Gauhati University to clear its stand on the Medical Council of India’s rule to give grace marks to MBBS candidates appearing for their final year examinations.

The demand has come after several unsuccessful MBBS final year students accused the university of violating the medical council’s norm by not awarding them grace marks.

Manas Jyoti Taw, president of the students’ union, said the Graduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulation, 2002, chalked out by the medical council stipulates that “any candidate who fails to clear the examination for not securing the pass marks in a single subject is eligible to get the grace mark.”

“The medical council, on the other hand, has maintained that giving grace marks lies at the discretion of the university authorities. We want to know whether the university follows the medical council norm or not. The university should make its stand clear on the issue, as it will clear a lot of confusions for the students,” Taw said.

The examination branch of the university had earlier rejected the plea of several unsuccessful students to give them grace marks.

The issue was brought to the forefront again after governor Lt Gen. (retd) Ajai Singh referred the cases to the university for a fresh look three days ago. Altogether 52 students from the paediatric, 51 from the medicine, 41 from surgery and 29 from the gynaecology departments of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) failed to clear the final year medical examination this year. The results were declared nearly one-and-a-half months back.

M.M. Deka, principal of GMCH, said the university’s decision to give grace marks is purely a discretionary one. He refused to comment on the students’ plea.

Several former principals and teachers, however, opposed the students’ plea for grace marks. “The request is completely unjustified. The university can give grace marks before declaration of the results. If grace marks are given to some students after one-and-a-half month of the declaration of the results, the same demand will come from all unsuccessful candidates,” a retired teacher said. “More importantly, medical students should not be awarded grace marks. If doctors start clearing their examinations with the help of grace marks, then the future of medical science in this country is very bleak.”

Gauhati university registrar M.C. Sarma said the matter is being looked into by the controller of examination, Nilamoni Bora. Bora, however, could not be contacted despite several attempts.

A senior university official said there is no question of giving grace marks to unsuccessful candidates. “The university is known for maintaining high standards in evaluation of answerscripts. We cannot compromise on the quality,” he said. Some of the unsuccessful candidates said they would move the court, if the university does not award them grace marks.