Tamil Nadu is set to lose at least 650 MBBS seats from its state counselling pool this academic year after three previously affiliated medical colleges were granted deemed university status, a development expected to make medical admissions more competitive and significantly increase tuition fees for affected students, as reported in Times of India.
According to health department officials, the change will reduce the number of seats available under the state’s admission process, including those earmarked under the 7.5% reservation for government school students. Officials have also indicated that if three more colleges secure deemed university status, the number of government quota seats lost could exceed 700.
The three institutions that have received deemed university status are St. Peter’s Medical College, with 250 MBBS seats, and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Institute of Medical Sciences and Srinivasan Medical College, which together account for 400 seats.
Once an institution is declared a deemed university, admissions to its MBBS programme are conducted through the National Medical Commission’s central Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) rather than the Tamil Nadu state selection committee. Students admitted through central counselling also face substantially higher tuition fees than those charged under the state’s government quota system.
Under the existing fee structure, annual tuition for government quota seats in self-financing medical colleges is fixed by the state fee committee, while deemed universities are free to charge significantly higher fees, reportedly ranging from ₹20 lakh to ₹35 lakh per year.
The University Grants Commission’s Institutions Deemed to be Universities Regulations, 2022 prescribe the procedure for granting deemed university status. Regulation 5.02(i) states that if a State Government does not communicate its views or NOC within 60 days of receiving the request, the UGC will presume that the State Government has no objection to the proposal. Regulation 5.02(ii) similarly provides that where an affiliating university does not respond within the prescribed 60-day period, it will be presumed that the university has no objection to the institution obtaining deemed university status.
The applications for deemed university status were processed during the tenure of the previous DMK government. Against this backdrop, questions are being raised over whether the statutory window was allowed to lapse without an effective objection being communicated in the case of Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Institute of Medical Sciences and Srinivasan Medical College.
Officials from the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University have stated that the university did not issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Institute of Medical Sciences and Srinivasan Medical College for obtaining deemed university status. The university has also maintained that it had not issued an NOC to St. Peter’s Medical College, although its refusal letter in that case is currently being contested in court.
Meanwhile, state health department officials have indicated that they intend to write to the Union Government contending that deemed university status had been granted despite objections from the affiliating university. They have also stated that inspections for increasing MBBS seats at government medical colleges in Tiruppur, Tiruvallur and Namakkal have been completed and approval from the National Medical Commission is awaited.
This comes as a shocker, as three previously affiliated colleges of The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University have received deemed university status, which will lead to a reduction of 650 medical seats in this admission year. This will directly impact the admission of students… pic.twitter.com/JlfrZrPbhc
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) July 7, 2026
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