Blame it on the impression that Bollywood potboiler Munna Bhai MBBS left on the students or clear negligence of regulations set by entrance examination authority, admission of 634 medical students stand cancelled today by Supreme Court. The candidates were earmarked as tainted for using unfair means to pass Pre Medical Test held by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), better known as Vyapam. Carrying forward the ruling given by a two-judge bench on May 2016, Supreme Court cancelled the admission of the students. PMT tests were conducted in the state to select candidates for MBBS/BDS courses for participating medical colleges.
Candidates were booked under impersonation, cheating and copying at the entrance examination for medical entrance test conducted for the state during 2008-13. The Vyapam scam came into light in 2013 and further probe was ordered involving CBI in 2015.
Talking to PaGaLGuY, the whistleblower of Vyapam scam, Dr. Anand Rai said that the judgment of the Supreme Court is just a part of the cases registered and is a section of wider scam that has taken place under the nose of the government. “More than 250 FIRs at various police stations and six different petitions are lying at the Supreme Court related to the mammoth scam. It involves some big names and leaders from political parties. But the irony is, only students are being made the scapegoat, while the authorities are roaming free,” said Dr Rai.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar ordered today that there will be no difference in their judgment and the admissions will be stand cancelled. The case was referred to this three-judge bench because the two bench judge in May 2016 were of different opinion. While one advocated about the fact that resources already spent on students in medical education will be wasted if their admission is cancelled, the other showed no leniency. “Medical Council of India (MCI) should have taken immediate action and prepare a list of candidates who were found cheating. The doctors out there in open, who have completed their degrees by cheating in the entrance examination, are a danger to this noble profession,” said Dr Rai.
In media reports, it has been mentioned that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found 121 traces of impersonators, who appeared for the PMT (Pre Medical Test) between 2008-13. Criticising the slow progress of CBI in the case of finding impersonators in the entrance examination tests conducted by Vyapam, Dr Rai said, “Off the 300 impersonators who appeared on behalf of the candidates, CBI could only manage to identify 121 in the last one and a half year! With this pace the cases will take forever to settle,” said an aggravated Dr Rai.
The judgment will affect those candidates who are still in the midst of their MBBS course and the resources spent on them will be wasted. “While it is a welcome judgment from the apex court barring the fraudulent to get into the noble profession, it should nab the main culprits associated with the scam. The court has just dealt with the lowest tier of the Vyapam scam pyramid,” concluded Dr Rai.