NEET Counselling 2017: 15 ineligible candidates in Punjab have their seats cancelled

Faridkot: 15 ineligible candidates for Punjab state government quota medical and dental college seats were identified during counselling by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, on Monday,

Most of them were claiming seats under the SC category of Punjab, whereas in reality they were SCs from other states, an official said.

A senior officer said, “We detected 13 cases related to SC certificates. They wrongly submitted their eligibility for Punjab seats under SC category seats. We cancelled their eligibility in the state. These seats have been allotted online to eligible candidates.”

In another case detected by the university, a candidate could not give a verification document for proving his domicile from Punjab, even though he claimed to be a resident of the state.

According to authorities all the seat allocations were done in the first round of online counselling on Monday, except 15% NRI quota seats in all the college. The NRI counselling for quota seats is scheduled for August 4.

Presently, the list of candidates allotted seats for MBBS and BDS courses has been uploaded at bfuhs.ac.in.

Though the university repeatedly gave reassurances about verifying documents at various levels including colleges and the university, students applying for seats and their parents expressed anxiety about candidates submitting multiple domiciles.

“As per a report in an English daily in Mumbai, over 100 candidates who submitted multiple domiciles have been detected. Although no such case has been reported here in Punjab, but BFUHS being the nodal agency to conduct the NEET counselling in the state should take necessary measures,” said mother of an aspirant from Moga.

BFUHS Vice Chancellor, Dr Raj Bahadur, said the university was aware of the eligibility criteria for candidates seeking seats in Punjab under the 85% state quota.

“Before the seat is allotted to the candidate and he/she is admitted, the university shall continue to verify the eligibility at university and the college level. In case, we find an ineligible candidate at any stage, the admission shall be cancelled. All admissions are provisional till the final registration,” he told HT.

The aspirants in Punjab are competing for 1,125 MBBS seats in eight medical colleges and 1,130 BDS seats in 14 dental colleges all over the state.