The Admission Supervisory Committee for Professional Colleges, headed by former judge J.M. James, has annulled the entrance examination held in Kozhikode on May 31 for admission to the MBBS management seats offered by private and self-financing medical colleges in the State. The committee has found prima facie evidence of corruption and malpractice in the conduct of the test.
The committee, which met here on Thursday to gather and examine evidence from various quarters, including parents of candidates and the media, decided to declare the test invalid after it got evidence that some managements had received money from candidates to assure them of seats even before the examination was conducted.
Mr. James, talking to The Hindu , said a re-examination would be conducted on June 22 under the supervision of the committee with the question paper set by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations. The venue and timings would be announced shortly.
On the decision to cancel the May 31 test, Mr. James said the committee had received prima facie evidence that some managements had taken Rs.35 lakh per seat from resident Indian students and Rs.57 lakh from Non-Resident Indian students, besides the normal fee that the students would have to pay. Some parents had deposed before the committee that they had paid half of the amount demanded on the agreement that the rest would be paid after the admission. It also found that the question papers had been given to some candidates ‘on monetary considerations.’ There were also reports of some students who were not given the hall ticket appearing for the test.
As many as 1,319 students had registered for the test, out of which 387 did not turn up. The conduct of the examination had run into rough weather with media reports of malpractice and students’ organisations taking out protest marches, some of which ended up in violence at the venue, prompting the committee to initiate the probe.
