Got 3 Neet impersonation complaints: CBI

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | J STALIN

PublishedNov 8, 2019, 2:01 am IST

In response to the same, Srinivasan referred to the communication received from the CBI dated November 6, 2019.

Madras high court.

Chennai: The CBI has informed the Madras high court that it has received three complaints relating to Neet impersonation and other malpractices and the two complaints from Chennai have been referred to the Medical Council of India and Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the other complaint received from Cochin, Kerala is under scrutinisation of the CBI.

K.Srinivasan made the submission when the appeal filed by S.Dheeran, an aspiring medical students, which sought to set aside an order of a single judge, dismissing his petition, challenging the selection process for the 207 seats that got reverted to the management quota owing to not getting filled up under the NRI quota, came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices N.Kirubakaran and P.Velmurugan on Thursday.

The bench had on November 4 directed K.Srinivasan, counsel for CBI to verify as to whether CBI has got any complaint with regard to impersonation or other malpractices in the NEET examination to get admission in the medical colleges in other states.

In response to the same, Srinivasan referred to the communication received from the CBI dated November 6, 2019 and submitted that the Chennai Zone of CBI has received two complaints from Chennai and one complaint from Cochin, Kerala. As far as the two complaints received from Chennai were concerned, they have been referred to the MCI and Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the complaint received from Cochin was under scrutinisation of the CBI, he added.

Recording the same, the bench said Special government pleader J.Pothiraj submitted that so far 16 students who have failed to give fingerprints to the CBCID would be giving their fingerprints before November 8 and the same will be informed to this court on the next date of hearing. Assistant solicitor general G.Karthikeyan has filed an affidavit by the Under Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The same was taken on file. He further assured that in the next hearing he will submit as to whether the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has received any complaint regarding malpractice in NEET examination, including impersonation or not, the bench added.

The bench said M.Velmurugan, counsel for the appellant submitted that the appellant has obtained 303 marks, whereas except seven students the other students who have got admission under the surrendered NRI lapsed quota to the private medical colleges have got marks lesser than the petitioner. One of the candidates who was admitted under NRI lapsed quota got 107 marks only and therefore, he submitted that there was no transparency in the admission under NRI lapsed quota and the private medical colleges have not followed the guidelines as laid down by the Supreme Court in Dar-Us-Salam Educational Trust case, while admitting the students in medical colleges. V.P.Raman, counsel appearing on behalf of MCI submitted that they will get proper instructions so that this kind of problems would not arise in future, the bench added.

The bench said it was brought to the notice of this court that the names of the candidates who were alleged to have impersonated have also been sent to Dr.M.G.R.Medical University for registration. However, Abdul Saleem, counsel appearing on behalf of the Selection Committee submitted that the names of the students who were alleged to have impersonated have been deleted from the list. The same was recorded, the bench added.

The bench said since the selection committee has sent the selected candidates for registration to Dr.M.G.R.Medical University, it was also a necessary party to this proceedings and hence this court suo motu impleads the Registrar, Tamil Nadu Dr.M.G.R.Medical University as party respondent to this proceedings.

D.Ravichander, counsel takes notice on behalf of the newly impleaded respondent. He assures that on the next date of hearing, he will produce the list of candidates sent by the selection committee, the bench added and posted to November 21, further hearing of the case.

3 plaints of NEET fraud: CBI
The complaints from Chennai had been referred to Medical Council of India (MCI) and Union Health Ministry.

Published: 08th November 2019 05:44 AM

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation told the Madras High Court on Thursday that its Chennai zone has received two complaints from Chennai and one from Kochi alleging impersonation in NEET.

The complaints from Chennai had been referred to Medical Council of India (MCI) and Union Health Ministry. The one from Kochi is under scrutiny of CBI, its counsel told a division bench of Madras High Court comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and P Velmurugan when a PIL petition from K Dheeran of Coimbatore praying for a directive to government to undertake proper counselling and mop-up procedure to fill-up 207 management quota seats available due to non-filling of NRI quota seats, came up again.

Assistant Solicitor-General G Karthikeyan filed an affidavit of Union Health Ministry, which was taken on file by the bench. He also assured that in the next hearing he will submit as to whether the Union Health Ministry had received any complaint of malpractice in NEET, including impersonation.

Counsel representing various medical colleges and universities submitted that they would obtain the fingerprints of the left out students and forward the same to the authority concerned, soon. Advocate M Velmurugan submitted that his client had obtained 303 marks, whereas except seven students, the other students, who had got admission under the surrendered NRI lapsed quota to the private medical colleges, had got marks lesser than his client.

One of the candidates who was admitted under NRI lapsed quota got only 107 marks and therefore, Velmurugan alleged there was no transparency in admission under the quota and private medical colleges had not followed guidelines as laid down by Supreme Court.MCI’s senior counsel VP Raman submitted he will get proper instructions so that this kind of problem will not recur.

It was also brought to the notice of judges that the names of candidates, who were alleged to have impersonated, had also been sent to Dr M G R Medical University for registration. However, selection panel counsel Abdul Salem told court that names of students who were alleged to have impersonated had been deleted from the list. The matter has been adjourned till November 21.

Now, Chennai-Jaffna flights for less than Rs 4,000 from Nov 11

The Alliance Air will now be flying to Jaffna and back, from November 11, with fares less than Rs 4,000.

Published: 08th November 2019 05:49 AM |

The inaugural Alliance Air flight from Chennai was the first to land at the new international airport in Jaffna. (Photo | Twitter)
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Alliance Air will now be flying to Jaffna and back, from November 11, with fares less than Rs 4,000. The Chennai to Jaffna fare will cost Rs 3,990 plus applicable government taxes and levies. Similarly, the return fare is priced at Rs 3,190 plus applicable government taxes and levies.

This flight is special in many ways. Apart from being Alliance Air’s maiden international foray, it connects Chennai to Jaffna after a gap of 41 years. Flyers coming into Chennai from Delhi, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Dubai, Trivandrum and Muscat, now have the option of connecting onwards to Jaffna over Chennai, making air travel more convenient.

There will be direct flight operations connecting the two destinations on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Flight 9I 101 will depart from Chennai at 1035am and arrive in Jaffna at 1200pm.  Flight 9I102 will depart from Jaffna at 1245pm and arrive in Chennai at 14:10 pm.

Panel to go into complaint against MKU professor

08/11/2019

A four-member committee, led by R. Lakshmipathy, Syndicate member, was formed on Thursday to look into the complaint of Registrar in-charge of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) R. Sudha against a professor, V. Kalaiselvan, for allegedly using unparliamentary language and verbally abusing her.

The panel was constituted at a meeting of the Syndicate held here. It was asked to submit its report in 15 days.

On Wednesday, Ms. Sudha lodged an official complaint with Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan regarding Mr. Kalaiselvan's behaviour which was a result of an internal tussle for space at the School of English and Foreign Languages.

According to university sources, the Syndicate meeting also finalised the names of seven members for the panel to interview applicants shortlisted for the post of Registrar.

The meeting also asked the Vice-Chancellor to remove unqualified candidates from their teaching posts, as per norms of the University Grants Commission.

A member of the Madurai Kamaraj University administration said that such candidates had already been relieved of their posts.

Advocate S. Vanchinathan who met the press on Thursday said that ‘provisional selection’ of two candidates for interview to the post of Registrar was not in accordance with rules.

Bar Council lodges complaint against law graduate, lawyer

08/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP) has lodged a police complaint against a law graduate, an advocate and another individual for attempting to influence its members and having collected bribe money by misusing their names to get the graduate enrolled as an advocate in the council.

According to the complaint initiated at the instance of K. Balu, chairman of the Enrolment Committee of BCTNP, the application of one B. Vipin, 59, of Villivakkam in Chennai was rejected by the council since he had undergone law degree between 2015-18 while serving in the Southern Railways.

The applicant did not relent and instead appeared to have paid bribe money of ₹25,000 to a lawyer and his accomplice who had promised to get him enrolled by exercising their influence with the Bar Council members.

After making such payment, the applicant continued to pressurise the members to enrol his name.

Irked over his attitude, BCTNP chairman P.S. Amalraj asked the council’s secretary C. Raja Kumar to lodge a police complaint against all the three individuals.

Accordingly, a First Information Report was registered against the trio in the High Court police station and the prime accused was picked up for the investigation.

Don’t transfer doctors in mid-academic year: Judge
‘It may affect their performance’

08/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Justice N. Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court on Thursday disapproved of the State government’s move of transferring government doctors, including those heading various crucial departments in government hospitals, from one district to another in the middle of an academic year.

While hearing a case related to medical admissions along with Justice P. Velmurugan, the judge said, the government doctors may not work properly if they get transferred in the middle of the academic year. He batted in favour of providing better wages to doctors as well as policemen.

The senior judge clarified that during the last hearing of the case, he had compared the salary paid to the doctors with that of college faculty and not schoolteachers.

Unacceptable pay

He said, it was unacceptable to pay ₹57,000 a month to a newly appointed government doctor when such amount was received even by college faculty.

Also stating that he had respect for all professions, the judge said, that some professionals such as doctors as well as policemen required to be paid better given the nature of work performed by them and the number of hours that they had to work every day.

NEET impersonation: more cases likely

One complaint received from Kochi; several students yet to submit fingerprints

08/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

An exercise undertaken by the Madras High Court to dig deep into the issue of impersonation in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) might lead to many skeletons tumbling out of the closet as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) disclosed that it had received one complaint from Kochi in Kerala, apart from Chennai.

Justices N. Kirubakaran and P. Velmurugan were also informed that though they had ordered cross-checking of fingerprints of all students who had got admitted in MBBS course this year, about 16 of them were yet to give their fingerprints, citing reasons of ill health and one of them rushed to court seeking anticipatory bail.

The counsel for Sree Balaji Medical College in Chennai stated that two of its students were yet to give fingerprints since they were not in station. The Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute said two of its students were bedridden due to viral fever and hence they were unable to give their fingerprints to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department.

SRM Medical College said that one of its students was yet to give his fingerprint. Though all the private institutions assured that their students would give their fingerprints at the earliest, Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute said one of its students failed to give his fingerprint and he had instead filed an anticipatory bail petition.

Counsel for Meenakshi Medical College stated that three of its students were yet to give their fingerprints and that they shall give it at the earliest.

After recording their submissions, Justice Kirubakaran suggested that the Selection Committee of Directorate of Medical Education itself could obtain fingerprints at the time of admissions from next year.

They also recorded the submission of K. Srinivasan, special public prosecutor for CBI cases, that the two complaints received by it from Chennai were forwarded to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well the Medical Council of India (MCI) whereas the complaint from Kochi was still under its consideration.

The judges directed Assistant Solicitor General G. Karthikeyan to find out from the Ministry by November 21 as to whether the complaints of impersonation in NEET were received from other States. The directions were issued during the course of hearing of a writ appeal related to alleged misuse of NRI quota seats in medical admission.

Appellant’s counsel M. Velmurugan said his client could not secure a medical seat despite scoring 303 marks in NEET, while nearly 200 students who had scored less than him got admission in private medical colleges under the lapsed NRI quota seats that were sent back by the Selection Committee to the respective colleges. Finding that Dr. MGR Medical University was a necessary party to the litigation, the judges suo motu included it as one of the respondents and adjourned the case to November 21 for submission of report by CB-CID.