SEAT-BLOCKING SCAM: Would write to the MCI, Health Ministry; Says KNRUHS Vice-Chancellor  

“We would write to the Medical Council of India and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that these candidates are suspected to have blocked seats and seek a probe. We will ask if any action can be taken against them,” the Vice-Chancellor, KNRUHS

Hyderabad: Seat-blocking issue has created a swirl of allegations and stirs by the post-graduate medical aspirants in the state. The medicos are constantly raising the issue of the suspected sale of PG seats and are urging the concerned authorities to take action against the malpractice which slaughters dreams of many youngsters who are yearning for a seat.

On Sunday, the associations of students and doctors staged a protest at Prof G Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education on Osmania University premises agitating against the alleged seat- blocking racket.

The protestors alleged that students from other states have colluded with middlemen and college managements to block PG (medicine) seats which are sold later. It was also alleged that some candidates were paid more than Rs 10 lakh to block and later forgo the seats so that those seats can be sold at exorbitant prices up to Rs 2 crore depending on the specialisation.

"In the absence of a mop-up round, all seats that not taken are converted into NRI quota and deserving candidates lose out on seats that they otherwise would have got. On each NRI seat private colleges make three times the money on each seat they otherwise make under management quota," Dr K Srinivas, member, Telangana Junior Doctors Joint Action Committee, explained to the New Indian Express.

“A few students took seats with the intention of leaving the seats later after a second round of counselling by paying the penalty fee so that the seat automatically gets converted to institutional quota. Students pay the penalty as they are getting monetary benefits from private institutions,” he told the Deccan Chronicle.

50 percent of the private medical colleges' seats in Telangana are filled by Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) based on merit.

Concerned KNRUHS Vice-Chancellor Dr B Karunakar Reddy told the media that it’s tough to say whether the candidate is a genuine admission-seeker or just a seat-blocker. He added to the TNIE, “Police did not know how to initiate action when a crime was not committed.”

The medicos and others have prepared a list of eight students from Bihar, Jharkhand and some other states who they suspect to be part of the issue.

Moreover, when contacted, University officials said that they too would prepare a list of students who got admission to medical colleges in other states managed to get back their original certificates and opted for a seat in Telangana but left it.

“We would write to the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Union ministry of health and family welfare that these candidates are suspected to have blocked seats and seek a probe. We will ask if any action can be taken against them,” the Vice-Chancellor confirmed.

Last September, Medical Dialogues team reported about this scam’s revelation in which it was discovered that a section of High NEET qualifiers was colluding with the private colleges to block seats. In order to assist the private institutions to sell those seats to low-rank holders and they were giving them up at the last minute.

Read Also: NEET toppers colluded with Private medical colleges to block Seats: HT Report

A few weeks ago, a notice was issued at the official MCC website in which the body announced that MCC/ MoHFW was receiving a lot of complaints from students regarding an active participation of some groups of students who were likely to block AIQ seats in the second round deliberately for financial gratification without the intention of joining them. This amounts to a criminal offence.

Read Also: MD, MS Admissions: Seat Blocking is a criminal offence, says MCC