Pariyaram Medical College director board chairman M.V. Jayarajan has said that the finding of the Sanjay Gargil commission appointed by the United Democratic Front (UDF) government to submit a report on the admission procedures in the college has given the lie to allegations of irregularities in admitting students.
At a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Jayarajan said the commission not only underlined that the admission process during the tenure of the present director board was transparent as it followed merit and social justice, also made it clear that the irregularities found in admissions were during the period when the medical college was under the previous UDF-controlled director board.
Accusing a section of the media for its attempts to blame the present director board by generalising the admission irregularities that had occurred during the tenure of the previous director board, he said the commission's finding had unravelled the truth.
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Every year the college admits 100 students to the MBBS course, 50 per cent seats of which were set apart for students from the government merit list. Of the remaining seats, 35 per cent seats were for the management quota, he said adding that these seats were also being filled with students selected on the basis of merit from the government list. The remaining 15 per cent was for the NRI quota, he said adding that the admission to the NRI seats was on the basis of interview.
He alleged that in 2006-07, the previous director board had set apart a few seats as privilege seats and used it as a privilege to indulge in admission irregularities. A major irregularity found by the commission had occurred during that period. It was also proved that money had also been collected as hospital development fund and huge amount had been levied from NRI students. Presently, the fee collected from the NRI students was no more than what the government had fixed, Mr. Jayarajan said adding that the money collected illegally during the previous director board had been re-arranged as fee for ubsequent years by the present director board.
The previous director board headed by M.V. Raghavan had also been responsible for the admission in 2007-08, he said adding that the case of one student found by the commission to have been admitted in the management seat without permission was reported during this period. In the 2008-09 academic year, two students were admitted in the management quota from the rank list after conducting its entrance examination as the candidates in the government's list were not qualified to get admission. It had been done with government permission, he said.
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In 2010-11, two seats in the management quota had been filled after advertising the vacancies on the basis on the merit of the candidates. The two candidates had been admitted as the two seats were lying vacant because of the disparity of the ranks of applicants for the management quota seats, shortage of applicants. In 2012, 50 per cent of PG seats had been given for government admission and as result one PG seat was still lying vacant, he pointed out.
Since there was no criteria for PG admissions, the director board had urged the government to issue the criteria for PG admission in 2012-13, he stated.
He also alleged that the previous director board was responsible for the college's liability of Rs. 400 crore. The college management had to pay Rs. 25 crore by way of income tax arrears accumulated as a result of non-filing of returns by the previous director board, he added.