HC takes suo motu notice of NEET impersonation case
State government asked to reply to seven questions on the issue

26/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of media reports of a student of the Government Medical College in Theni having secured admission allegedly through impersonation during the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), and posed a set of seven questions to the State government.

Justices N. Kirubakaran and P. Velmurugan sought to know whether the complaint against the student, K.V. Udit Surya, son of a doctor, was a one-off instance, or if there were other instances too of students having gained admission in government and private colleges through impersonation during NEET.

The Division Bench also wanted to know whether the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) had taken steps to cross-check the identities of those who had appeared for NEET at the examination centres situated in various parts of the country with those who had gained admissions in medical colleges located in Tamil Nadu.

“Is it a fact that the Principal of Theni Medical College has not taken any action in time in spite of knowing about the fraudulent admission obtained by the student? Whether all statutory procedures have been duly followed by the authorities right from permitting the students for examination after verifying their identity?

“Whether the authorities have identified any other fraudulent methods like dual nativity certificate by which medical admission has been obtained by any other student?” the judges asked and ordered that all of their questions should be answered on Thursday.

They raised the queries during the hearing of a writ appeal preferred by S. Dheeran, of Coimbatore, accusing the DME of having filled only 53 of the 260 seats meant for the Non Resident Indians (NRI) quota and returning the remaining 207 seats to private colleges, to be filled under the management quota.

Though a government counsel dismissed the allegation as baseless, the judges said it could not be brushed aside unless the government convinced the court with relevant material that all procedures were followed strictly with regard to admissions in medical colleges this year and that there were no irregularities at all.

The government was directed to produce by Thursday the list of candidates admitted under the NRI quota and the communities to which they belonged.

It was also ordered to submit a break-up of the candidates admitted under the State quota and those admitted under the All-India quota, with their respective marks.

It was after passing this order that the judges took suo motu notice of the impersonation issue in NEET and called for details regarding that as well.

Verify architects, CoA tells TN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore:26.09.2019

The council of architecture (COA), a national body constituted to regulate the practice and study of architecture, has written to the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to direct local and municipal bodies to verify the validity of registration of architects when they submit a drawing or building plan for obtaining approval.

However, the council and the local planning authority have conflicting views on allowing engineers submit and get building plans approved.

The communication said the council had received complaints that non-architects were practising as architects using fake certificates under jurisdiction of municipal corporations and local bodies.

COA president Vijay Garg said the council was receiving complaints of local bodies allowing unqualified personnel to work as architects and this resulted in low quality buildings . “Only a person with BArch degree from a recognised institution would be registered by COA,” he said. Engineers, howeevr, said that the council’s demand could overburden local bodies.

Loopholes in med admissions exposed

Health Minister Promises To Streamline MBBS Intake, Put Imposters Behind Bars

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

The cases of impersonation tumbling out in Tamil Nadu, where competition is cut throat for the few seats, have not just exposed the craze for a medical seat. They have also laid bare gaping loopholes in the system.

In each of at least three cases reported this year, the student who appeared for the competitive NEET was different from the one attending classes. “Students were nearly stripped and searched minutes before the exam. They tore off full sleeved shirts, removed ear studs and other jewels, watches. But how is it that there are no checks during counselling? Until now, we thought the only problem was students making false nativity claims. But we now see that some students have managed to impersonate and fudge documents,” said Kailash Vishwanthan, whose son missed getting a seat by one mark.

Directorate of medical education officials said they realised the flaw in the process last week when Theni Medical College dean Dr Rajendran reported the first case. “We realise it is because we don’t a biometric system during counselling. Next year, we will have fingerprints and iris scans. Fingerprints of students are taken by the National Testing Agency in examination hall. We can get experts to match them during counselling and during admission,” director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu said earlier. Options of bio-metric attendance for students in all government colleges are being explored.

Health minister C Vijayabaskar told reporters they would tighten the process and also file criminal charges against students who had joined MBBS course without being eligibile or by fudging documents.

Medical college administrators poring through students’ records say it may be impossible to verify documents perfectly. “Some students have passed out of schools nearly four years ago. Their Class X photos are nearly six years old. It is impossible to match some photos. This method of document verification is crude and will lead to false alarms,” said a senior professor in a government medical college in Chennai. “Moreover we don’t know if this problem exists in 2018 and 2017 batch of students.”

On September 10, more than a month after admissions closed, Riyas from Andhra Pradesh came to the Madurai Medical College with an allotment ‘order’ from New-Delhi based Medical Counselling Committee (MMC). Dean Dr K Vanitha, who became suspicious, informed the Tallakulam police. At least two other candidates, who came with similar ‘orders’, fled before police arrived.

Files may move faster as TN govt to go fully electronic soon
Move Aims To Eliminate Paper Use
D.Govardan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:26.09.2019

After Odisha and Kerala, the Tamil Nadu government is set to go 100% electronic in its offices, doing away with manual files.

While the state has issued a government order for it, the process will begin from the Secretariat, with all departments becoming ‘e-offices’.

“Offices in the districts and every village will parallely join the electronic stream. Already, all offices in the I-T department and its related offices, including Elcot, have gone electronic,” Santhosh Babu, principal secretary for I-T, told TOI.

A few weeks ago, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had personally advised secretaries of each department to focus on speedy governance. With the e-office initiative now set in motion, once implemented, it is not only files that would start moving fast, but also decision making.

The key objective of the initiative is to eliminate the use of paper and to make most of the office communication electronic to improve efficiency, consistency and effectiveness of government responses. It also aims to cut turnaround time and meet demands of the citizen charter as well as provide for effective resource management to improve quality of administration, among others.

The idea to make files electronic was mooted back in 2013-14, when it was decided to host the e-office software service in the state data centre (SDC) in the cloud environment. Willing government departments were to make use of the software, enabling officials and staff to handle the files from any location without geographical barriers.

Recalling the initiatives he undertook while heading the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, popularly known as Poompuhar, Santhosh Babu said he replaced the system of manual files and communication with electronic systems. “Earlier, a decision for even a simple procurement request from a distant branch office of ours in Kolkata would take 45 days. Once all our offices across the country were connected electronically, the decision-making process came down to just three hours,” said Santhosh Babu, who while heading the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women had made it a paperless office way back in 2001.

Through the latest order, the state government has decided to implement the e-office application developed by NIC with immediate effect for processing all files electronically in all government departments/PSUs/boards/agencies under its control. All of them have been directed to take steps to implement the same through Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA), the nodal body for egovernance initiatives.

The initiative intends to make most of the office communication electronic to improve efficiency, consistency and effectiveness of government responses

MBBS scam: Two more cases of impersonation detected in TN

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:26.09.2019

The MBBS impersonation scam is getting murkier with PSG Medical College, Coimbatore, reporting two more suspects. A week after K V Udit Surya, a firstyear student of Government Theni Medical College, was booked for allegedly using an impersonator to take NEET in his name, the Coimbatore college authorities found that photographs of two students — a male and a female — to be different in the NEET score card issued by the National Testing Agency and the admission (admit) card issued by the DME’s selection panel.

Udit Surya, parents held in Tirupati


A special police team on Wednesday picked up Udit Surya, his father Dr K S Venkatesh and mother Kayal Vizhi from a hotel in Tirupati and brought them to the CB-CID office in Egmore. “We have not arrested them. We will question and take statements from them before deciding on arrest,” a senior CB-CID official said. P 6

'Selection panel has to confirm impersonation'

The students, who passed out of CBSE schools in Dharmapuri and Kancheepuram, were issued eligibility certificates by the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University before they appeared for medical counselling. The directorate of medical education (DME) and the state medical university had asked all colleges in TN to verify photos of first-year medical students against their Class XII mark sheets, NEET score cards and admit cards after Udit Suriya’s case.

“Ever since NEET came into force, admission to all self-financing colleges is done by the selection committee. We admit students who bring the admission card from the committee. On verification, we found photos were different. The committee has to confirm if there was impersonation,” said PSG medical college dean Dr S Ramalingam. “Police complaints will have to be filed by the committee because they selected the candidate.”

Letters from DME Dr R Narayanababu and medical university vice-chancellor Dr Sudha Seshayyan asked deans to form a committee comprising the college viceprincipal, first year faculty members and administration staff to do verification of documents and physical verification of the students. Selection committee officials said seats including those reserved for NRI students were returned to the respective colleges. “Admissions were done locally by colleges. We verified all documents and screened them for accuracy of nativity and community details. We don’t know how we missed crossverifying the photographs,” said selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan.

Medical colleges told to refund excess fee 

Staff Reporter 
 
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, September 24, 2019 00:21 IST

Directive of fee regulatory panel

The Rajendra Babu-led Fee Regulatory Committee for medical education in Kerala has taken four self-financing colleges to task for purportedly collecting excess NRI fees from MBBS students.

The panel ordered four colleges, viz., Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College, and Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, to return the fee that had been collected in excess to fee structure that was in force.

On the basis of complaints received from some students, the panel noted that the colleges had been collecting ₹20 lakh as NRI fees, as per provisionally fixed by the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC) in July 2017. However, the AFRC later fixed the NRI fee as ₹18 lakh in October 2017 and had directed the colleges to appropriate the excess fee collected either to be refunded or adjusted towards the tuition fee for the remaining years, the panel stated in its order.

Taking serious note of the practice of collecting ₹20 lakh as fees, the committee stated that it shall be viewed as capitation fee collection, prompting initiation of action in accordance with the provisions of the law.

தமிழே தெரியாத கல்லூரி மாணவர்கள்!

By DIN | Published on : 25th September 2019 04:59 AM 

உயர் கல்வி கற்கும் மாணவர்கள் கூட தமிழில் பிழையின்றி எழுதத் தெரியாத நிலை தமிழகத்தில் உள்ளது. இந்த அவலத்தை கடலூர் மாவட்ட காவல் நிலைய ஆய்வாளர் ஒருவர், தனது முகநூல் பக்கத்தில் வேதனையுடன் பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.

கடலூர் மாவட்டம், புவனகிரியில் காவல் நிலைய ஆய்வாளராகப் பணிபுரிபவர் அம்பேத்கர். இவர், தனது முகநூல் பக்கத்தில், அண்மையில் வெளியான ஒரு புதிய திரைப்படத்தின் பதாகையுடன் மேள,தாளத்துடன் கூச்சலிட்டபடி, அனுமதியின்றி சாலையில் ஊர்வலமாகச் சென்று, பொதுமக்களுக்கு இடையூறு செய்ததற்கு, கல்லூரி மாணவர்கள் காவல் துறைக்கு எழுதிய மன்னிப்பு கடிதம் ஒன்றை கடந்த 21-ஆம் தேதி பதிவேற்றியிருந்தார்.

அந்தக் கடிதத்தில், "நான் கீழ்புவனகிரியைச் சேர்ந்த பி.காம். மாணவர். இனிமேல் காவல் துறை அனுமதியின்றி, திரையரங்கில் பேனர் வைக்க மாட்டேன், மீறி செய்தால் சட்ட நடவடிக்கைக்கு கட்டுப்படுவதாக, ஏராளமான எழுத்துப் பிழைகளுடன் எழுதியுள்ளார்.

அந்த கடிதத்தில் இருந்த எழுத்துப் பிழைகளை, சிவப்பு நிற கோடிட்டு காட்டி, முகநூலில் காவல் ஆய்வாளர் பதிவிட்டிருந்தார். அந்தப் பதிவில், "மாணவர்களின் கல்வி நிலை இவ்வாறு போனால், யார்தான் காப்பார்கள் இவர்களையும், இவர்களின் தமிழையும்? என கேள்வி எழுப்பியுள்ள காவல் ஆய்வாளர், இதுபோன்ற இளைஞர்களுக்கு சரிவர தமிழைப் போதிக்காமல் விட்ட ஆசிரியர்கள் மீது கோபம் கொள்வதாகவும் அதில் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தார்.

இந்தக் கடிதம், முகநூல் மட்டுமல்லாது கட்செவி அஞ்சல் உள்ளிட்ட சமூக வலைதளங்களிலும் பரவியது. இதேபோல, மேலும் சில மாணவர்கள் எழுத்துப் பிழைகளுடன் எழுதிய மன்னிப்பு கடிதங்களையும் அவர் சமூக வலைதளத்தில் வெளியிட்டுள்ளார்.