Dehradun: Amid a probe into allegations of fraudulent documents being used to secure MBBS admissions in Uttarakhand, the medical education department has asked principals of all 10 participating govt and private medical colleges to verify candidates’ documents of those availed any kind of category / sub-category benefits. The directive comes after the second round of NEET-UG counselling concluded with 300 more candidates securing seats, taking the total number of students admitted in the first two rounds to 784, official data showed on Sunday. The first two rounds of counselling were held between Aug 13 and Sept 19.Officials said the third round will not proceed until verification of state-quota documents is completed. Any seats that fall vacant following cancellation of an admission will be offered in this round, scheduled from Sept 28 to Oct 9 under the schedule issued by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).
Dr Ashutosh Sayana, director, medical education department, said, “Students have secured admissions to the colleges of their choice, but their colleges will have to verify their documents now for furthering the next process. We have written to all the principals to do the needful for enabling the next round.”
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said certificates of eight candidates had been cancelled after being found forged by the district administration. He warned that, apart from cancellation of the certificates, stringent action would be initiated against those involved, as the matter amounted to cheating in examinations.
Meanwhile, journalist and social activist Pradeep Bahuguna, son of environmentalist and Padma Vibhushan recipient Sunderlal Bahuguna, who had sought verification of documents submitted by over 350 candidates over possible discrepancies in the admission process, said he was continuing his efforts to identify such cases.
“If every year at least 1,000 MBBS students pass out from our state’s medical colleges, then why are our health facilities near empty at some hospitals? This puts a question mark on who is getting admission in our medical colleges under the state quota,” he asked.
