PUDUCHERRY: Three officials of the Revenue Department - a Deputy Tahsildar, a Revenue Inspector and a Village Administrative Officer (VAO) of Oulgaret Taluk - were suspended in connection with a case involving a student from Tamil Nadu who secured admission to the MBBS course under government quota through a residence certificate, Chief Minister N Rangasamy told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Making a suo-motu statement in the House after Zero Hour, the Chief Minister said in response to the issue brought to the notice of the House by AIADMK member A Anbazhagan in the Assembly two days before a thorough verification of certificates was done and the discrepancy came to light. The seat which had fallen vacant due to its cancellation would be filled up through Centac at a later date. Besides, the certificates of all students admitted through Centac in engineering and medical colleges would be re-verified, he said, even as an MLA also alleged that seven or eight other students from different States have secured admission in a similar way.
The student Monica N, daughter of Narayanasamy, hailing from Dindigul, had studied upto tenth standard in Dindigul before doing her Plus-Two in Puducherry. She then secured admission in the MBBS course in Sri Venkateswara Medical College under the general category through Centralised Admission Committee of the government. The residence certificate was issued on the basis of a forged ration card and the electors photo identity card (EPIC), sources said.
A ration card of the girl’s relative in Puducherry was used to fabricate another ration card in the name of the family, so was her EPIC which was fabricated too, sources said. Since no physical verification was done by the Revenue officials before issuing the certificate ( on the basis of the forged documents) they were placed under suspension.
In fact a complaint in this regard was submitted by V Balasubramanian from the Pondicherry Parents-Students Welfare Association to the District Collector and Revenue Secretary as early as on August 27 and urged him to re-verify the certificates once again before the final counselling on September 9. He also stated that if any corrective measures are required then it could be taken before the due date and an opportunity to a Puducherry student who missed the seat on account of this ineligible admission could be provided. However, nothing happened till the MLA brought it to the notice of the House.
With the issue coming to light, Monica voluntarily surrendered her seat and left the institution after collecting her certificates including transfer certificate, government sources said.
In the past the association had made similar complaints of irregularities in Centac admission as the authenticity of the certificates was not scrutinised and ascertained before providing the seat.