Maharashtra DMER to check caste certificates as soon as they are submitted

The new online process has been introduced to prevent submission of fake certificates

After reports of fake caste certificates submitted to medical institutes in the state surfaced, the Common Entrance Test (CET) cell has requested respective government departments to upload names and certificates of eligible candidates on its website.

The move comes after reports of fake caste certificates submitted to medical institutes in the state (Representational photo)

The state Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has also decided to include a warning about fake certificates in the admissions brochure.

While undergraduate admissions for this year will only begin post June, post-graduate admissions will kick off from the first week of February. Dr Pravin Shingare, director, DMER, said that results of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Post Graduate (NEET-PG) exam will be out on January 31 and admissions will begin the next day.

“Despite the government’s efforts, several departments have not yet uploaded all the information. We want to caution students against the consequences of participating in such activities,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, director, DMER.

Until last year, students used to submit copies of all eligibility certificates to the nodal departments, which were then verified by DMER authorities with the respective departments.

“This process used to take months after the admissions process was completed and therefore, many admissions got cancelled later on. This year, with all certificates hopefully online, our officials will get to verify the validity of the certificate immediately at the time of submission,” added Shingare.

In the last two years, several cases have led to arrests of students as well as agents involved. Last year, nine MBBS students were booked for submitting fake Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates for admission to a medical institute in Dhule. They were caught after an alert officer informed the Tribal Welfare department, who in turn set up an inquiry to look into their claims.

In 2017, 108 of the 119 caste certificates submitted by the Tribal Welfare department were found to be invalid. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court (HC) had stayed admissions of the 119 students following a PIL filed by another fellow student who could not find a seat in the ST quota despite having good marks and a valid certificate.