Amritsar, April 20
Taking serious note of the prevailing nexus of CBSE officials, politicians and middlemen in leaking out PMT entrance papers, the Union Minister of State for Secondary and Higher Education, Mr Valabh Bhai Kathiria, today announced that a fresh set of papers would be released for the scheduled entrance test on April 27.
Talking to this correspondent from Gujarat, Dr Kathiria said the government would order a high-level probe. He said he would apprise senior minister Murli Manohar Joshi of the racket.
He said he would summon the CBSE Chairman, Dr Ashok Ganguli, at his office tomorrow and seek a detailed report.
The police has written to banks to seal the accounts of Devinder Singh, alias Pappu, an Akali leader from Sirhind, and his family members, who had been alluring aspirants for the CBSE medical entrance tests with a promise to supply question papers.
Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said such a racket had been going on for the about a decade. Dr Bhola Singh Sidhu, president of the local branch of the IMA, said parents whose children were to appear for the PMT entrance tests being conducted by the CBSE had been getting letters and messages to contact certain persons to strike a deal in this regard.
He said to improve the standard of medicine, the government should do away with the practice of “selling seats” to NRIs and other affluent candidates. Merit and aptitude should be the sole criterion for admission to medical institutions and no reservation should be allowed at the expense of merit, he said.
The CBSE is likely to order a probe into the matter even as the PMT entrance test is scheduled for April 27.
