Kiran Bedi visits Centac, gives officials an earful

Puducherry: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi visited Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) office much to the surprise of officers there. She visited the office on the day of third counselling after receiving a number of complaints that self-financing institutions are continuing to reject demand drafts by candidates who went by the fee structure announced by the fee committee and the vacancy list has not been released on the Centac website for government quota seats.
She became furious identifying ‘glaring flaws in processes of seat allocations’ shouted at officers present there and asked them to immediately present papers related to seat allocation.

Knowing that 71 seats are still vacant under government quota for students who qualified Neet examination, the Lt Governor shouted at the officers saying that they have ‘betrayed’ the students of Puducherry by pre-updating the vacant number of seats before completing the counselling process.

Ms Bedi, who visited the office around 9.30 in the morning continued her inspection till 6.30 pm. Despite Centac officials’ plea that they have to consider secretary of health before making an order, the  Lt Governor issued an order directing the Centac to conduct counselling on Wednesday to fill vacant seats and strictly asked them to rescind the seats diverted from government quota  to management quota if any.

Much to the relief of students, Ms Bedi asked private medical colleges to admit students following the fee structure recommended. Ms Bedi threatened the officers to suspend them if they were not ready to present in the office of Centac on the day of counselling on Wednesday.

Following her visit, R. Babu, secretary of health department directed Centac to report the seats allocated and those vacant on a daily basis.