E-Paper
Ayush admission irregularities in U.P: Two probe teams formed to go after suspects
These students were given admission reportedly in violation of rules allegedly by replacing the names of selected candidates with those scoring poor marks in the NEET-2021 exam
Two probe teams will attempt to go after the people who wrongfully “managed” admissions of 891 students in Ayurveda, Unani and homoeopathy (Ayush) courses in Uttar Pradesh.
These students were given admission reportedly in violation of rules allegedly by replacing the names of selected candidates with those scoring poor marks in the NEET-2021 exam, people familiar with the matter said.
While police officials comprise one probe team, the other is headed by a senior Ayush official.
An FIR was lodged at the Hazratganj police station in connection with the matter. Ayush minister Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’ has ordered a high-level internal inquiry.
The students who are under the scanner include 43 pursuing the Ayurveda first year course at government colleges, while 473 had got admission to private Ayurveda colleges.
They also include six students of the state-run homeopathy colleges, two from private homeopathy colleges, four students of state-run Unani colleges and 363 at private Unani colleges. These students were admitted via NEET-2021, that gateway to admission to MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS and BUMS seats.
“Our inquiry will be of the highest level and done in full transparency. We would reach the culprit and punish,” said Ayush minister Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu.’
A special secretary-official level is probing the admissions that were found to be doubtful.
The preliminary probe indicated that the data of NEET qualified candidates received from the directorate of medical education, Uttar Pradesh, and used for allotting seats in Ayurveda, Unani and homeopathy colleges was “corrupted”.
“The matter came to light when two lists of selected candidates, one from the national testing agency and the other submitted by the agency hired for counselling with the Ayurveda directorate, did not match,” said a senior official in the Ayurveda department.
The police probe will include the technical aspects of “data corruption” where the team will focus on finding out when exactly the data was corrupted, and if it was corrupted as initial probe suggests. “Data corruption” is suspected to have paved the way for the admission of undeserving candidates.
The laptops and all other equipment used by the representatives of the agency hired for counselling work will be seized by the police teams and cyber experts will screen them.
The internal inquiry that has spotted the “data corruption” will attempt find out whether 891 or more students were given admissions in violation of the rules. This inquiry will also check if any of the officials in Ayurveda or unani department knew about the admission fraud.
