ADMISSION FRAUDS

[drsushant]

State medical education minister Vijaykumar Gavit, on Monday, announced a probe into the alleged medical admission racket in three medical colleges, also deemed universities, where seats were up for sale. The colleges are run some of Maharashtra’s senior politicians.

Gavit’s

announcement came in response to corruption charges made by the leader of opposition Eknath Khadse, who submitted a CD of a sting operation, conducted by an aggrieved parent.
Khadse said that the sting operation had shown how MBBS seats were being sold for Rs20 lakh to Rs25 lakh, dental seats were being sold for Rs7 to Rs10 lakh, while rates for post graduation were around Rs50 to Rs70lakh.

“The CD shows honorary registrar of one college collecting money, it has shown an Officer on Special Duty to governor being involved. This is a huge racket,” said Khadse.

The CD has shown meeting of an individual with agents, seeking admission to MBBS, PG seats in these colleges. In the case of one college, the CD has shown a senior staffer in the college promising MBBS seat for Rs22 lakh and even promising that it can be done cheaper in another college.

“We will look at the CD and a special committee will be set up to probe the charges,” Gavit said.

He admitted that there had been similar complaints about deemed universities and his department was drafting a law that would ensure control of the state over fees, admission process, entrance exams conducted by them.

Khadse had alleged that there was a Rs300-crore scam in just three medical colleges – DY Patil Medical College, MGM Medical College and Terna Medical College. He said there are seven other colleges in the state where such rackets were rampant.

Terna Medical College is controlled by senior NCP politician Padmasinha Patil, while MGM Medical College is controlled by former education minister Kamal Kishore Kadam. DY Patil Medical College is controlled and named after senior Congress politician and current governor of Tripura, DY Patil.

        

[Drsumitra]

From next year, getting approval for a new dental college will not be an easy affair.

In a major blow to the mushrooming dental college industry in the country, the top dental regulator has tightened the existing laws by making it mandatory for a new dental college to be associated with a medical college to facilitate training to the dental students. Only those applicants meeting such criteria will be given approval, from 2013 to start the new dental college.

As per amendment in “Dental Council of India (Establishment of New Dental Colleges, Opening of New or Higher Course of Study or Training and increase of Admission Capacity in Dental Colleges) Regulations 2006” the applicant will henceforth have to certify that the new dental college is attached with a recognised medical college which is located at the distance of 10 km by road.

“…the applicant will also have to certify that the medical college would facilitate training to the students of the proposed dental college as per syllabus for undergraduate and postgraduate dental course.”

This is for the first time that the regulator has taken such a major decision with an aim to curb the growth of the increasing number of dental colleges in the country. There are presently 292 dental colleges-253 being run privately-in the country with 20,000 dental doctors passing out annually from these institutes. But majority of them are unable to find jobs because of the glut in the market.

“The notification which will be published soon has been prepared to ensure that quality of dental education is not compromised. It is a known fact that presently permission to open private dental colleges has become a lucrative business with students paying money in millions for admissions,” sources in the Union Health Ministry said.

But when they pass out from the colleges after shelling out huge money and time, they do not find any job as there is a glut in the dental market.

However, existing dental colleges seeking increase in seats or starting higher courses except in the speciality of oral and maxillofacial surgery have been exempted from such regulation.

Citing shortage of jobs, the Council has already been asking the States not to consider opening any new private dental college unless required stating that around 30 to 40 per cent of the total seats in such colleges in the private sector have remained vacant for quite sometime.

 

        

[drmithila]

Postgraduate dental students who were allotted seats in private colleges on Wednesday through the government’s single window counselling system were turned away by the colleges on Thursday, the last day for admission.

The directorate of medical education conducted counselling for postgraduate medical and dental seats in self-financing colleges affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University after nearly four years, following the Madras high court’s directions.

Thirty-eight PG dental seats in six colleges and 33 PG medical seats in two colleges were allotted on Wednesday. The medical and dental councils mandate that colleges should surrender 50% of PG seats for admission through the single window system. Based on a petition, the Madras high court had ordered admission through counselling, where the rule of merit and reservation is followed.

On Thursday, the students took the allotment orders to the respective colleges but were refused admission. "The college officials refused to give acknowledgement letters and said they would contact us once a final decision in the matter was made," said Dr TK Diwakar, a student.

The Indian Dental Association (IDA) is planning a gherao at the directorate of medical association office on Friday. "As per court orders, the colleges are supposed to admit students," said C Sivakumar, secretary, IDA, TN branch. "What the private colleges are doing is wrong," he said.

 

        

[Drsumitra]

As many as 20 new medical colleges, including nine in the public sector, will be opened this year, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India, Dr K K Talwar, announced on Sunday.

The country needs at least 60,000 fresh medical graduates every year to fulfil its requirements, while all the medical colleges in the country have been producing nearly 44,000 graduate doctors annually, Talwar said. He said that 20 medical colleges will be opened this year itself. Further, there has been a proposal to allow hospitals with a capacity of 300 beds to open medical colleges, in order to boost medical education in areas deprived of it till now.

Even in those hospitals where no surplus land is available, the college will be allowed to be built at a reasonable distance, said Dr Talwar. This relaxation, however, will be extended to states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhatisgarh only, where the number of medical colleges is much less, he added.

 

        

[drmithila]

For middle class parents wishing to enroll their wards in MBBS courses, the journey has become tougher. The Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta fee regulatory committee has announced a fee hike ranging from 8-15 per cent in the undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses run by self-financed colleges.

After the hike, the fee of MBBS courses, which ranged from Rs 3.15 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per annum, has increased to Rs 3.25 lakh to Rs 4.50 lakh. The most expensive self-financed college in the state to offer MBBS course is Karamsad Medical College where the parents will have to cough up Rs 4.5 lakh per annum as fee.

 

        

[Drsumitra]

Cracking the whip on professional colleges that have collected excess fee from students, the State government has directed them to reimburse the amount to students. The government has also threatened to initiate action against the erring colleges, if they failed to do so.

The decision to ask the professional colleges to return excess fee collected from students was taken after officials from the Higher Education Department met with members of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) and the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges Association (KRLMPCA) here on Friday.

Speaking to The Hindu, Higher Education Minister C.T. Ravi said the government has decided to define “necessary fees” and “abnormal fees” for this purpose. “The college managements said that some extra fee was collected for library, sports and skill development for campus placements. This comes up to Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000. This is acceptable. Anything above this amount should be returned to the students,” he said.

The government has the data of erring colleges compiled by the P. Venkataramaiah Committee based on the complaints it received, he added.

Mr. Ravi said action will be taken against colleges that do not reimburse the excess amount collected. This may include cancellation of their affiliation or complaining to the All India Council for Technical Education, he said.

Later in the day, the Minister chaired another meeting with the Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of various universities in the State and the office-bearers of the Karnataka State Higher Education Council. The participants are said to have concurred on uniform fee structure for M.E., M.Tech, MCA and MBA courses offered in government colleges, private unaided institutions and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) regional and extension centres.

Transfer

The Higher Education Department may also introduce the inter-university transfer system next academic year. “It will act like a pooling system. Every college or university does not have all the courses. It will be beneficial for students who wish to pursue a course which may not be available in his/her college elsewhere,” Minister Ravi said.

On the appointment of Bangalore University’s Vice-Chancellor, the Minister said, “We have just appointed an acting Vice-Chancellor. The process to appoint a new person is under way.”

The notification for the formation of the search committee for this purpose has already been given, according to sources.

Mr. Ravi also spoke about plans to ensure that IAS or KAS officers are appointed to the post of Registrar (Administration) in varsities in the State.

“There is a provision for this in the Karnataka State Universities Act 2000. Only if such officers are not available a senior professor can take charge,” he said.

 

        

[drsushant]

Cracking the whip on professional colleges that have collected excess fee from students, the State government has directed them to reimburse the amount to students. The government has also threatened to initiate action against the erring colleges, if they failed to do so.

The decision to ask the professional colleges to return excess fee collected from students was taken after officials from the Higher Education Department met with members of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) and the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges Association (KRLMPCA) here on Friday.

Speaking to The Hindu, Higher Education Minister C.T. Ravi said the government has decided to define “necessary fees” and “abnormal fees” for this purpose. “The college managements said that some extra fee was collected for library, sports and skill development for campus placements. This comes up to Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000. This is acceptable. Anything above this amount should be returned to the students,” he said.

The government has the data of erring colleges compiled by the P. Venkataramaiah Committee based on the complaints it received, he added.

Mr. Ravi said action will be taken against colleges that do not reimburse the excess amount collected. This may include cancellation of their affiliation or complaining to the All India Council for Technical Education, he said.

Later in the day, the Minister chaired another meeting with the Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of various universities in the State and the office-bearers of the Karnataka State Higher Education Council. The participants are said to have concurred on uniform fee structure for M.E., M.Tech, MCA and MBA courses offered in government colleges, private unaided institutions and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) regional and extension centres.

Transfer

The Higher Education Department may also introduce the inter-university transfer system next academic year. “It will act like a pooling system. Every college or university does not have all the courses. It will be beneficial for students who wish to pursue a course which may not be available in his/her college elsewhere,” Minister Ravi said.

On the appointment of Bangalore University’s Vice-Chancellor, the Minister said, “We have just appointed an acting Vice-Chancellor. The process to appoint a new person is under way.”

The notification for the formation of the search committee for this purpose has already been given, according to sources.

Mr. Ravi also spoke about plans to ensure that IAS or KAS officers are appointed to the post of Registrar (Administration) in varsities in the State.

“There is a provision for this in the Karnataka State Universities Act 2000. Only if such officers are not available a senior professor can take charge,” he said.

Keywords: Professional colleges, excess fee reimbursement, COMEDK, fee structure

        

[drmithila]

Human Resource Development Ministry will bring a new bill to stop the menace capitation fees in medical and engineering colleges. The bill proposes stern action against the guilty institutions. Despite opposition by Bihar and other states, the Central Government has stuck to his decision to implement the Right to Education Act by March 31, 2013.
Under this law action will be taken against the guilty institutions and they a fine of Rs 10 lakh would be imposed. A resolution passed at the 60th meeting of the Central Advisory Board Of Education made it clear that the Right to Education Act would be implemented across the country by March 31. Many states including Bihar have objected to the implementation of the Act, saying that poor states won’t be able to afford the expenses.
Moreover, the share of Central and state governments have not yet been fixed. Bihar and several other states say that the Act should not be implemented till the share of spending between the Centre and the states is finalised.
But the Central Government said that the required work for implementing the Act would be completed by March 31. The recommendations of the JS Verma Committee on maintaining the quality of teachers has been accepted. JS Verma has recommended that from time to time teachers orientation programme should be undertaken so that they are fully up to date about their subjects

        

[drmithila]

the Pravesh Niyantran Samiti (PNS) has cancelled the admissions of over 250 medical and dental students, who secured seats through a faulty process, on Friday. The students had secured admissions after the second round of centralised admissions last year which the PNS said was not conducted according to proper procedure.

Three committees headed by different deans were appointed by the government to look into the admission process. On the basis of a report submitted by these committees, colleges were sent notices and each college was asked to give an explanation. Around 250 admissions were disapproved by the PNS after receiving replies from the colleges as the process was not fairly conducted and it lacked transparency.

“We found in many cases that students who had scored less marks had secured admission, while students with more marks, who had applied to the same college, didn’t get a seatt. Many malpractices were observed in the admission process,’’ said PE Gaikwad, office secretary of the PNS.

He added that the colleges and government will decide whether a fresh round of admissions will be conducted to decide the fate of the students.The Forum for Fairness in Education had filed petitions in the Bombay high court and with the Human Rights Commission demanding the government to look into the admission process. Jayant Jain, president of the Forum said, “The number of faulty admissions must be close to 700 to 800. The PNS will find more such illegal admissions if it investigates further.’’ He added that the government should conduct the third and fourth round of admissions again and meritorious students, who underwent severe stress, must be compensated. Medical aspirants who had complained against the process were overjoyed to hear the news. “I am happy with the decision. Due to some goof-ups by a college in Satara, I couldn’t secure a seat in another college in Solapur,” said a student who scored 160/200 marks.

        

[drmithila]

The High Court on Monday issued notices to the State Government, the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (Comed-K) following a public interest litigation seeking a curb on seat-blocking racket in admissions to professional colleges.

The petition filed by Prof Ambalike Hiriyanna said 24 students had blocked medical seats for gain and, eventually dropped out of the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS).

Petitioners also sought a detailed probe in to the issue. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice K Sreedhar Rao and Justice Abdul Nazeer issued notices and directed them to file objections with a week.

Petitioners alleged that the seat-blocking row rampant in allotment of medical seats in the State. As per a clause in the consensual agreement of the State government with the professional institutes, all unfilled government quota seats have to be surrendered back to college managements.

The managements eventually convert them to “management quota” seats.

Some merit students fall prey to the management lobby and take part in the seat-blocking racket, said the petitioner.

        

[drmithila]

It couldn’t get more embarrassing for the chairman of the Dental Council, Dr Dibyendu Majumdar. It all began first with the CBI arresting Dr Gunaseelan, Chairman of Tamil Nadu Dental Council, caught along with his aide, Dr Murugesan, with large amounts of cash. Their crime – accepting bribes from dental colleges for increasing the number of seats.
As CNN-IBN raised this subject on last Friday’s India @ 9, the pressure was beginning to show on the authorities. Questions were being raised against Chairman of the Dental Council himself. “If I am corrupt, you can hang me,” Dibyendu Majumdar said.
But it’s the silence of the Health Minister on this subject which is now turning out to be deafening. For the last three years, CNN-IBN has been relentlessly reporting on what ails the Dental Council. But the Health Minister isn’t listening.

Will you speak up, Mr Minister?
– Who is responsible for the large-scale corruption which is now becoming endemic in the dental council?
– Why is Mr Azad failing to act against the culprits despite giving written assurances?
– Is the Dental Council a completely political body consisting of candidates backed by politicians?
– And the biggest question – If neither the chairman of the Dental Council, nor the Health Minister are willing to take responsibility, what’s the purpose of setting up of this council at all?

        

[drsnehamaheshwari]

 

 

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to keep a seat available for an OBC student in its Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) course that is scheduled to begin from July this year till the disposal of a plea regarding the same.

The court’s direction came following a plea from an OBC student, Anusar Gupta, seeking a direction for reservation of the OBC category students in the MDS programme.

 

Gupta, a first rank holder in the OBC category in the post-graduate MDS course, was denied admission to the institute. He told the court in his plea that even though there are five seats in the MDS course, not a single one was reserved for OBC category students, which is illegal, as there is a provision of 27 per cent reservation of seats for OBC candidates in every institute.

 

"The petitioner has been denied admission in the OBC category, due to a wrong and illegal allocation of seats for OBC candidates, wherein not even a single seat has been reserved for OBC candidates (27 percent reservation) despite having a total of five seats," the petition read.

 

It was further submitted that AIIMS has wrongfully combined MD/MS seats with MDS seats, despite the two courses belonging to completely different categories. MD/MS degrees are for medical courses, while the MDS degree is for dental courses. AIIMS reserved the entire 27 per cent seats for OBC category candidates in the MD/MS courses and none in the MDS course.

 

"AIIMS has combined all the 121 seats (for MD/MS courses and MDS course) and allocated the 27 per cent reservation – 33 seats – to MD/MS courses and not even a single seat to MDS course, which is illegal and has caused grave injustice to the petitioner and his career," the plea said.

The Court has scheduled the next hearing in the matter for July 16.

 

        

[drsnehamaheshwari]

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said the formula adopted by AIIMS for allocation of seats to various categories in the Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) course, which commenced from July this year, is "not just and fair" as no seat was reserved for OBC category.

 

The court, however, declined to interfere with this year’s course and asked the Centre and AIIMS to allocate seats as per the provisions in the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act in future.

 

"The formula adopted by respondent 1 (AIIMS) is not in conformity with the legislative mandate since sometimes the reserved category candidates are getting more than their due shares and sometimes they are not getting the share which ought to have come to them….," Justice V K Jain said.

 

The court order came while disposing of a plea filed by one Anusar Gupta, first rank holder in OBC category in post- graduate MDS course, who was refused admission on OBC seat in the institute for this year’s course.

 

"There is no legal sanctity behind the formula adopted by AIIMS for allocation of seats amongst various categories in the MDS course. Considering the meagre number of seats available in various specialities, the legislative mandate cannot be achieved in case the formula adopted by respondent No1 is allowed to continue.

Whether the legislative mandate can be achieved by treating all the seats in MDS, irrespective of the speciality, as one branch of study and providing reservation accordingly in terms of Section 3 of the Act, is for the respondent No 1 to examine. But the formula applied by it is neither legal nor just and fair," the court also said.

 

 

        

[Author]

Posts