Religion no criterion for admission at Vaishnodevi medical college, merit alone is: Omar Abdullah

rajouri/jammu: jammu and kashmir chief minister omar abdullah on tuesday defended merit-based admissions to the shri mata vaishnodevi institute of medical excellence (smvdime), saying seats cannot be distributed on the basis of religion under the constitution.“when the decision was taken to set up a medical college at the university, it was already known that seats could not be distributed on the basis of religion. approval was granted on the basis of neet. the only criterion of neet is merit,” abdullah told reporters here.the national conference leader, who was on his way to jammu via poonch and rajouri from srinagar, said those who secured admission through neet are now being punished because of their religion. “neither the law nor the constitution permits this, nor does the policy of the university allow denial of admission on this basis.”abdullah criticised attempts to seek religious segregation in admissions at the college, asserting that merit alone determines selection.“if you want the distribution of seats on the basis of religion, then you must stop taking grant-in-aid and the land given free of cost — you must pay for both. only then can you change the university rules to reserve seats for one religion. we will have no objection to that,” the chief minister said.on the demolition of a journalist's house in jammu, abdullah said the matter was beyond his purview. “i said it in srinagar that it is not in our hands. those who have appointed the officer and those who have taken such a step should be asked.”on the condition of roads in the pir panjal region, he said the situation was due to ongoing construction. “road-widening, four-laning and tunnel projects are underway. wherever tunnel work is going on, maintenance of the existing roads should be carried out,” he said.abdullah said he had travelled from srinagar to rajouri via the mughal road through bafliaz and poonch and had seen the state of the roads. he said he would take up the matter with defence minister rajnath singh, as the roads fall under the border roads organisation.on border safety measures, he said bunker construction was progressing, with both community and individual bunkers being built.abdullah also visited the house of poonch mla aijaz ahmed jan to offer condolences on the demise of his mother.