ILLEGAL MBBS SEATS CASE

Recent revelations concerning allegedly illegal MBBS seats have once again placed the Indian medical education system under negative scrutiny. According to a recent report from The Times of India, Delhi Police are currently investigating officials from the National Medical Commission (NMC) and various medical colleges in connection with this case. Presently, two NMC officials and four colleges are being scrutinized in the matter.

In this purported scam, these colleges were granted permission to increase the number of seats in MBBS, MD, and other courses illegitimately. The authorities suspect that money was involved in this process, and it is expected that arrests will be made in the near future.

The scandal was initially brought to light by the commission last August, resulting in the annulment of the forged permission letters and the launch of an investigation. The commission also lodged a complaint with the police, who then filed an FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act, pertaining to criminal conspiracy, cheating, and online fraud.

The complaint was filed by AK Singh, deputy secretary at the medical assessment & rating board (MARB) of the commission. Singh revealed that forged Letters of Permission (LOPs) were issued to various medical colleges via an official email ID (ds.marb@nmc.org.in) belonging to a deputy secretary who previously managed affairs at MARB. To his surprise, Singh discovered during an internal inquiry that these letters, purportedly sent by him, were enabling colleges to augment student intake.

Further investigation revealed that another official had tampered with the website to make the forged permissions appear genuine. Consequently, the commission issued a notice in August last year, cautioning colleges not to recognize these permission letters as valid. This notice, published on the commission’s website, clarified that the letters were forged/fake and should be disregarded.

The commission asserted that appropriate legal action was underway, but the investigation is yet to conclude, as per Delhi police.

SOURCE : ECONOMIC TIMES