Sensing a scandal in the recent admission to postgraduate medical courses in Puducherry , the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered an FIR against top officials, including two senior IAS officers — Narendra Kumar, chairman, Central Admissions Committee (Centac) and Development Commissioner, Puducherry, and B.R. Babu, Health Secretary — and owners or representatives of seven medical colleges or deemed universities.
Acting on reliable information that top officials had colluded with the management of private medical institutions to flout the norms for admitting ineligible students to postgraduate courses, special teams of the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch perused records and found that 91 students, who were selected by Centac and given provisional admission certificate, were refused admission by deemed universities and self-financing colleges. At the same time, 93 students who were neither selected by Centac nor issued any admission certificate were given seats by the institutions on payment of huge fee.
Criminal conspiracy
The CBI alleged that the officials entered into a criminal conspiracy with the management of private medical colleges to commit the offence despite clear instructions by the Centre to all States and Union Territories that it was mandatory to have common counselling for admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in all medical institutions, including private colleges and deemed universities.
The instruction was that the common counselling should be organised by the Centre or the State authorities based on the marks obtained in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). Accordingly, the Government of Puducherry entrusted Centac with the responsibility of conducting postgraduate admissions.
While the self-financing colleges shut the door on students whose admission was approved by Centac and went ahead admitting others by taking a huge fee, the deemed universities, despite a Madras High Court order that they should admit students who were given provisional admission certificate by the Centac, admitted ineligible candidates.
Instead of ensuring that admission procedures were followed, the public servants abused their official position and facilitated the management of private medical colleges.
Others accused in the case are Raman, Director of Health and Family Welfare; V. Govindaraj, Convenor, Centac; K. Pajaniradja @ Kichena, Joint Convenor, Centac; Rajagopalan, managing director, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry; Ganesan, managing director, Arupadaiveedu Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry; Ponniyinselvam, registrar, Vinayaga Missions Medical College, Karaikal; Anbu alias Anbalagan, managing director, Sri Lakshminarayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry; Dhanasekaran, managing director, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry; Anil Jacob Purti, registrar, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry; Ramachandhran, managing director, Venkateshwaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre and unknown officials of the Puducherry government and Centac.
This is the first major scam in medical admissions after the Centre introduced NEET-based medical admissions in the country.
