Four Puducherry medical colleges in the dock for contempt of court

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar directed Dr. S Sharavanan, vice chairman, Aarupadai Veedu Medical College, Dr. Annabelle Rajaseharan, dean, Vinayaga Mission Medical College, M K Rajagoplan, Chairman, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, and Dr. Somashekar, Dean, Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Science- to file an affidavit explaining their conduct or affidavit of compliance of the order by July 3. 

The petitioner V B R Menon, who is appearing in the case, submitted that in compliance of the Madras High Court order as many as 27 students had deposited the prescribed provisional fee of Rs.10 lakh each with the convenor of Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) before the prescribed time limit. But when they approached the respective colleges to attend classes on June 20, the colleges failed to admit them stating lack of vacancies. 

He also submitted that a glance at the lists of admitted students as notified by CENTAC and the actual lists of students admitted by the respective colleges reveal that the said colleges have admitted students with lower NEET scores as well as those who have not undergone common counselling. 

Pointing out that the seats which were allotted to the students as per CENTAC list, based on merit and common counselling, have been illegally diverted by the colleges to less meritorious students in gross violations of the statutory provisions. 

It also said the admission list by CENTAC and the Deemed University colleges show that several seats under state quota have been converted to management quota to facilitate collection of higher fees from prospective students.