Kerala: Government sits on plea for vigilance probe

Kochi: The government has been sitting on a petition for the last three months the parent of a student filed before Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanding a vigilance enquiry into the irregularities that prompted the Admission Supervisory Committee to cancel the admission of all the 150 students including his daughter for the academic year 2016-17.  In his petition on December 22, 2017, Prof. K.V. George alleged that authorities of the medical college had presented faked documents of students admitted under the NRI quota.     

“The college presented documents that had nothing to show that they were genuine, which resulted in the cancellation of admission of several eligible candidates including my daughter who had applied online,” he said in his petition.  The ASC order substantiates his contention. “Even a cursory look of the applications shows that they are not actual ‘online applications’. The forms do not show the name of the Medical College to which the applications were made,” the ASC had said, cancelling the order.  

Prof George pointed out in his petition that the Supreme Court had on October 28, 2017 ordered the college not to admit anymore students after that date. “However, the police raided Central Avenue Hotel in Kannur on October 30 and confiscated documents related to admissions,” he said in his complaint. “The police recorded the statements of students, parents and college officials and presented them in the court.” 

Prof. George said the chief minister’s Office sent him a reply saying the petition has been forwarded to the additional chief secretary (health) for further action.  “I have heard nothing after that. A lot of eligible students were made to suffer for the criminal act of the college and hence the government should order a probe to ensure that the guilty are punished,” he told DC.