Blame game begins after MCI cancels MBBS admissions in Puducherry

NEWDELHI:The Medical Council of India’s decision to cancel admission of 778 medical students in Puducherry has sparked blame game among various government authorities.

Chief minister V Narayanasamy blamed the MCI and a court-appointed Permanent Admission Committee (PAC) for the fiasco, while the lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi accused the state government of turning a blind eye to irregularities in private medical colleges.

The HT had first reported on September 13 that the MCI seconded the PAC’s report on large scale bungling in admission process and cancelled more than 70% admissions made last year in all seven private medical colleges in the state.

All the 778 candidates who have been discharged were in the second year of their course.

The MCI in a September 7 letter, cancelling the admissions said the colleges “haven’t demonstrated any evidence of fairness and transparency in the admission process...”

The order was issued after Bedi complained that merit was sacrificed for money. A probe found that of the 1,200 who joined in 2016, 778 students were admitted overlooking the SC’s directives on the national eligibilitycum-entrance test (NEET).

Talking to HT over phone from Pondicherry, Narayanasamy said his government-appointed central admission committee (Centac) conducted counselling only for those who sought admission under the state quota.

The MCI didn’t find any anomalies in that process, he said.