In CBI Vyapam chargesheet, how med seats were ‘illegally allocated’ from state quota

In CBI Vyapam chargesheet, how med seats were ‘illegally allocated’ from state quota

P.Naveen@timesgroup.com

Bhopal:  09.02.2021 

A recent CBI chargesheet in a Vyapam scam case has mentioned in detail how a section of officers at the directorate of medical education (DME) allegedly overlooked norms in connivance with directors of some medical colleges to 'illegally' allot seats to candidates.

The chargesheet, running into over 4,000 pages and naming 60 people, relates to alleged rigging of Pre-Medical Test (PMT) conducted by Vyapam in 2011. It names Dr S C Tiwari and Dr N M Srivastava as the director, medical education, and joint director, medical education, in 2011. Tiwari was then chairman of the counselling committee of MP PMT-2011 and Shrivastava its coordinator.

Investigation has revealed that on November 11, 2011, Srivastava wrote to registrars of Barkatullah University-Bhopal, Devi Ahilya Bai University-Indore, Rani Durgavati University- Jabalpur and Jiwaji University-Gwalior that DME had completed PMT-2011 counselling to fill 50% state quota seats in private medical and dental colleges in compliance with a Supreme Court order, says the probe agency.

The universities were told to get the list of admitted candidates verified from DME before issuing the registration letter. However, in a letter dated July 13, 2012, to the Barkatullah University Registrar, Srivastava had verified and forwarded the list of candidates admitted under state quota by Chirayu Medical College for that session.

Srivastava verified the names of 47 state quota candidates, who did not attend the counselling or were not issued any allotment letters by the committee, says the CBI chargesheet, alleging that these were admitted illegally by the college on its own on September 30, 2011, against vacant state quota seats. The chargesheet claims forwarding of the list as proof of Srivastava’s “ulterior motive”.

On Tiwari, the chargesheet says that it was his responsibility, as chairman of the counselling committee, to conduct the counseling within deadline and according to procedure, but he couldn’t get it done in time.

“He also failed to implement rules and procedures, which gave the opportunity to ineligible candidates who appeared in the counseling to get seats and vacate them in connivance with college authorities,” the chargesheet alleges.

Tiwari did not take any action against Chirayu Medical College on the ‘illegal admissions’, the agency has said. The chargesheet alleges that Tiwari and Shrivastava were present during counselling for left-out seats conducted on September 28, 2011, when Girish Kanitkar, a representative of Chirayu Medical College, “falsely reported only one vacant seat to the counselling committee”.

“If the college declared only one vacant seat on 28/29 September, 2011, before the counselling committee, how did the college administration admit 47 candidates against vacant MPPMT seats on September 30, 2011? But they (Tiwari and Shrivastava) did not raise any question or take any action against the college,” the chargesheet says.

The central agency also alleges negligence by Dr G P Naik and Dr Asha Srivastava, who headed the scrutiny committees for the three rounds of PMT counselling, and Dr Mohan Shinde and Dr Rinni Malik, who headed separate allotment committees. CBI recommends action against them for their ‘lapses’.

The chargesheet accuses the Barkatullah University registrar of negligence in issuing registration/enrolment numbers to 39 ineligible candidates who were not allotted seats in PMT counselling but were allegedly ‘illegally admitted’ by Chirayu on the last day, September 30, 2011. It recommends action against the registrar as well. The agency has also called for action against the college for “illegal admission” of eight DMAT candidates on PMT/state quota seats and six non-DMAT candidates on vacant DMAT seats.