By: R Chandrakala on September 29, 2017
A particular section of candidates with high scores in NEET conspired with private colleges to block seats until the last minute and then took a stand back due to which colleges had to sell seats t lower rank holders.
NEET has replaced a couple of medical examinations last year. This scam has come into view after a scandal on the same lines in Madhya Pradesh was reported years ago. A lot of top performing students who signed up for admission had withdrawn leading to the colleges trade the same vacancies for money.
Private Colleges in Karnataka, Bihar and Puducherry have been reported to have been engaging in this malpractice. A high-rank holder would typically block a seat after first or second round of counseling.
After the initial counseling rounds, the Supreme Court allows the relevant authorities to provide a list of colleges in the order of merit in a ratio of 1:10, a list that contains ten times the number of candidates than the seats existing.
The Central Admission Committee Puducherry had discovered that mop up round indicated a vacant seat count of 96, while more than 150 students had been admitted. Out of the 960 applicants that CENTAC had submitted to the private colleges, not a single college was admitted.
Once the candidates withdrew, the seats were sold to students who were out of the list. The deal in this respective case at least cost about INR 5-20 Lakhs. The respective heads of the Karnataka Examination Authorities have admitted to blocking of seats wherein original certified copies of the candidates have not been deposited.
Contrary to this, authorities in Rajasthan and Punjab have denied offering seats to colleges beforehand claiming that the last candidate who was allotted seat was also by means of Government Counselling.
In the meanwhile of the same, the Medical Council of India is awaiting information on 12,000 MBBS seats offered by 97 colleges who have reportedly still not supplied them with details despite repeated reminders. This checking of the list is done by the Medical Council to ensure that compliance with NEET 2017 is effectively ensured. In the same month, MCI had canceled a total of 778 seats in Pondicherry on receipt of complaints in line with adhering to the NEET counseling procedure.
If the list does not stand submitted by the colleges on time, candidates suffer ultimately. In an alternate case, MCI might start filling out on seats for all the candidates. Owing to conditions of curfew in Haryana and Punjab, the date of counseling was extended to September 14. The Supreme Court had refused further extension for undergraduate/postgraduate/super-specialty seat counseling.
