EMN
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 9
Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) said it is perturbed by the continued imbroglio involving Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) on the issue of All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) ‘as new facts emerge and things do not appear apparent as it seems.’
In a press communiqué issued today, ACAUT said it feels that if these issues and lapses are not addressed in all seriousness then such thing will continue to create problems jeopardizing the future of deserving students. According to ACAUT, the lack of clear directions from the Government of Nagaland seems to be abetting the AIPMT fiasco as well affecting both professional and technical students. Also, the role of the Directorate of Fisheries and Directorate of Sericulture arbitrarily nominating their candidates for technical courses under NEC quota is a very serious matter for which these two departments will have to give convincing clarifications, it added. ACAUT then demands clarification on what basis did the Department of Fisheries and Sericulture nominated their own candidates for the course of B. Sc (Fishery) and B.Sc (Sericulture) as per NEC quota 2014.
As per the correspondence letters of the Directorate of Fisheries and Directorate of Sericulture, two candidates were nominated for the courses of B. Sc (Fishery) and B.Sc (Sericulture) respectively as per official letters addressed to Assam Agriculture University by the two departments, the ACAUT press release claimed. On July 19, 2014, the Director of Fisheries, Chizu Kapfo, issued a letter nominating a student (name withheld) for the course of B.Sc (Fishery) and on June 30, 2014 the Director of Sericulture, Chandan Basera, forwarded the application of one student (name withheld) for the course of B.Sc (Sericulture) to the higher ups of the department for ‘Administrative Approval’ and it was given on July 22, 2014 by the Dy. Secretary Lungheising, it added. Accordingly, both were inducted into the said university. The ACAUT Nagaland then said it would like to know as to under what authority were the two students selected for the said course.
“Whether there is any state government notification empowering these two departments to nominate students for undergraduate and technical courses, NEC quota included?” ACAUT questioned. “If not, on what laid-down criteria were the two students selected?” it further asked. ACAUT also questioned as to how many students applied for the said courses. It also wanted to know whether the DTE is in knowledge of the nominations and admissions carried out by the two departments. “If not, why? If yes, evidence may be supplied,” ACAUT press note said.
If the DTE is the competent authority to nominate students for various courses in universities as claimed, ACAUT also asked why this lapse should occur again and again at the cost of meritorious students is beyond comprehension unless something is fishy.
“As much as both the Fishery and Sericulture departments have much explaining to do, the DTE is utterly culpable for allowing these lapses to occur and therefore all the three departments should issue immediate clarifications and rectify wrongdoings,” ACAUT demanded, adding, “If the Department of Technical Education or the Chief Minister could intervene and cancel the arbitrary nomination done by the Horticulture Department and reinstate Ms. Watinaro for the course of B.Sc (Horti) in Dr. YSP University, the same yardstick should apply here”.
“Was the notification by DTE dated 23/7/2014 to conduct Nagaland State Pre-Medical Test (NSPMT) not in violation of Government Notification dated 19/9/2012 that there will be not state JEE and if not then where is the order/notification superseding it?” ACAUT also asked.
It then said that while the DTE may have felt that 56 MBBS and BDS medical seats allotted to the state of Nagaland for the year 2014 could not be allowed to go waste since none of the indigenous students who appeared for AIPMT exam could not secure even the minimum 40% pass mark and therefore, NSPMT was necessitated, the fact of the matter is that by holding this examination it violated its own notification of September 19, 2012 and in the absence of any notification overriding this previous notification, technically speaking the NSPMT exam stands null and void.
“It was unethical as well since the DTE was complicit in abetting wrong doing by supporting non-meritorious students to get into highly specialized courses like medicine through backdoor,” ACAUT added.
ACAUT is of the view that this was one farce which could have been avoided. As per the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) result declared in June 2014, none of the Naga students secured the minimum pass mark of 40% and therefore were ineligible for the course of MBBS and BDS as per Medical Council of India rules, ACAUT recalled. Altogether 56 seats were allotted to the State of Nagaland as state quota. Despite knowing this fact the DTE made a merit-list of all the AIPMT failed students and allotted the necessary MBBS & BDS seats which was ridiculous, to say the least. After having heightened the expectations of students but realizing its folly, the DTE decided to scrap their own so called merit-list and held NSPMT on August 9 and minimum qualification mark was again kept at 40%. Hundreds of students again appeared for the exam out of which only 13 secured above 40%, a pathetic showing indeed. Realizing that 46 MBBS & BDS seats were going waste- 13 seats being filled up by the 13 passed candidates securing above 40% - the DTE simply filled up the vacant seats from among those failed students who got below 40%!It is simply incomprehensible that there could be a separate ‘merit-list’ for failed students on the basis of which the rest of the 46 MBBS/BDS seats were filled up when the NSPMT Exam notification published on July 23, 2014 had made it clear that no students securing less than 40% pass mark will be eligible for nomination! Such unprofessionalism is unheard of and most condemnable.
The press communiqué then said it is the stand of ACAUT Nagaland that those students who failed to secure minimum 40% pass mark in NSPMT should not have been selected under any circumstances.
“Though a loss in terms of 46 MBBS/BDS seats would seem huge, a right message would have been sent out that meritocracy cannot be compromised with and the entire student community would have been challenged to perform better in studies safe in the knowledge that hard work counts. Rather, those in responsible positions have only made it possible for unethical practices to flourish at the cost of meritocracy,” the press release alleged. ACAUT Nagaland then said it is worried at the quality of doctors and technocrats the state will be churning out, thanks to DTE and the other technical departments flouting all norms and it demands that the state government institute an inquiry and fix responsibility upon the erring bureaucrats.
