Exam board chief’s arrest blows the lid off MBBS entrance test scam in Kashmir. In June 2012, thousands of aspirants in Jammu & Kashmir sat for the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission into professional courses, little knowing that the examination was just a mock exercise.
The question papers for the MBBS entrance examination had already been sold to a select group of candidates in south Kashmir, who took the test at a high-end hotel on the scenic Dal lake.
And the seller was none other than Mushtaq Ahmad Peer, the chairman of the state’s Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BoPEE).
Now, Peer is behind bars and the details emerging from the scam are revolting. Investigations reveal that Peer pocketed Rs 65 lakh by selling the papers to two brokers, who in turn sold these to a group of aspirants in south Kashmir, earning around Rs 5 crore for themselves. Some of the candidates, who had an abysmal academic track record, went on to corner top positions in the MBBS select list, with 12 of them figuring in the top 30.
Some of the candidates hail from middle-class families who had to sell their properties to raise the Rs 10-20 lakh needed to buy the question papers. Their academic record was so poor that some had failed in their matriculation and Class XII exams. The toppers were exposed when they failed the internal assessment tests at the medical college.
Even though the entrance exam results generated suspicion among the aspirants, because an unusual number of toppers came from the adjoining areas of south Kashmir and some of them were close relatives, the government was not keen on investigating the issue. In fact, following his retirement as BoPEE chairman soon after the entrance test was over, Peer was re-employed on a two-year contract in December 2012 to provide consultancy to the government on the proposed fast-track recruitment of Class IV employees.
It was only when the J&K High Court entertained a public interest litigation and directed the Crime Branch to hold a transparent inquiry into the allegations of manipulating the MBBS selections that the scam came to light on 20 November.
Soon, the government swung into action. As a first step, Peer was sacked from the consultancy position. Crime Branch officers questioned him for three successive days before arresting him on 23 November. “After sustained questioning, we established his role in the case and he was arrested,” said a senior Crime Branch officer.
Peer’s residence was raided and it was found that he had amassed properties worth 10 crore in the past three years. This included a house in the posh Tawi Vihar area of Sidhra in Jammu, some properties at Pahalgam, 10 kanals of land in Ganderbal, besides three apartments in Jammu and New Delhi.
The CET is a hallowed competition in Kashmir, particularly for being the gateway to admission to medical and engineering courses, with thousands of aspirants working hard to crack it. The youth from the Valley have been slow to accept civil services as their career choice. So, Peer is accused of ruining the dreams of the bright and intelligent aspirants and also undermining the BoPEE as an institution.
The scam has raised some serious issues. A question mark hangs over the credibility of the state’s recruitment agencies. In the latest case, the fate of the 2012 MBBS select list hangs in the balance. What will happen to the selected candidates who bought question papers, once the investigation establishes their guilt?
Meanwhile, Peer’s own political connections, which were instrumental in his appointment as the BoPEE chairman, are being called into question. There is already talk of his closeness to a senior Congress leader.
The scam has also galvanised the civil society, which wants a transparent and speedy trial against the accused.
“Peer is directly responsible for pushing our youth into depression,” says Kashmir Economic Alliance chairman Mohammad Yaseen Khan. “The government must act swiftly and expose all those involved in the scam.”
No comments:
Post a Comment