Uttarakhand: Quota certificates under lens after 5 booked for securing MBBS admissions via fake ones

After five individuals, including four students, were booked in Uttarakhand for allegedly securing MBBS admission through fake freedom fighter dependent certificates, the entire process of issuing and verifying such documents has come under scrutiny.

According to the Medical Education Department, the certificates of five candidates applying under the freedom fighter dependent quota were found to be suspicious. After verification by the district magistrates of the respective districts, these certificates were confirmed to be fake, and the admissions granted based on them were cancelled.

Senior journalist and social activist Pradeep Bahuguna, who claims to have exposed this issue, asserts that the matter is not limited to freedom fighter dependent certificates alone, and raised concerns over the domicile certificates as well.

The administration has constituted a committee, headed by the Dehradun chief development officer (CDO), to investigate these allegations.

Medical Education Director Ashutosh Sayana stated that during the NEET-UG counselling process in Uttarakhand, doubts were raised regarding documents related to five seats under the freedom fighter dependent quota.

He mentioned that the certificates were subsequently verified by the district administrations of the districts where they had been issued.

"In all five cases, the certificates were found to be fake and were declared invalid. The admissions of the candidates who had secured seats based on these certificates have also been cancelled," Sayana said.

He added that suspicions have arisen regarding some other certificates as well.

According to the Medical Education director, complaints have also been received concerning the documents of eight candidates in the Scheduled Caste category; university officials have been instructed to grant admission in such cases only after the certificates have been verified by the respective districts.

Pradeep Bahuguna, who is the son of the renowned environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, claims that his investigation revealed suspicious similarities across several certificates issued under the 'freedom fighter dependent' quota.

Speaking to PTI, Bahuguna noted that NEET counselling was underway from August 13 to August 19. According to him, certificates for approximately eight to ten individuals under the freedom fighter dependent quota were issued around August 18-all in a single batch. He said this raised suspicion.

"If a candidate already knows they intend to avail the benefits of this quota, having the certificate issued during the very final days of counselling raised questions for me," he said.

According to Bahuguna, he subsequently began verifying the certificates using the state government's portal and official records.

Citing a specific case, he explained that documents identified an individual named Dharmveer Verma as a freedom fighter and listed the names of his dependents.

Bahuguna claims he cross-checked this information against Collectorate and Treasury records but could not verify the relevant details.

He then visited the address listed on the certificate to conduct further inquiries.

According to Bahuguna, conversations with locals and the family in question revealed that while a person by that name had lived there, he was not a freedom fighter.

Bahuguna subsequently lodged a complaint with the district magistrate and the Minister for Medical Education. An administrative inquiry found five certificates issued under the freedom fighter dependent quota to be forged.

Bahuguna asserts that the scope of the investigation should not be limited solely to freedom fighter dependent certificates.

He claims that certain domicile certificates are also suspect and that a large number of candidates may have secured admission to medical seats under Uttarakhand's state quota based on such documents. He has raised suspicions regarding approximately 200 cases, although neither the administration nor the Department of Medical Education has independently verified this figure so far.

Bahuguna states that the domicile certificate is a crucial document for establishing local eligibility for hundreds of state-quota MBBS seats in Uttarakhand. Therefore, if irregularities have occurred, the scope of the issue could be much wider, the journalist-cum-activist says.

He alleges that adequate action has not yet been taken regarding the fake domicile certificates.

Another point of contention in this matter concerns the role of the employees and officials who processed the files or issued the certificates.

Bahuguna alleges that the very same revenue official who processed the documents was also the one against whom complaints regarding the issuance of fake documents were subsequently lodged.

He questions why the suspicious documents were not detected during the initial scrutiny.

He has also raised questions about the verification system employed by the officials.

Jagdish Rathore, a patwari from Dehradun, admitted that a thorough examination of the documents could not be conducted at his level but cited excessive workload as the reason for the alleged negligence.

He told PTI that he was under immense pressure due to tasks such as SIR (Special Inquiry Report) duties, census work, and other administrative responsibilities.

However, he also noted that files related to the certificates move from his level to senior officials, and the documents should have been scrutinised at that stage as well.

He pointed out that the responsibility for verification also lay with higher-level officials, including Dehradun SDM (Sadar) Apoorva Singh.

Dehradun District Magistrate (DM) Ashish Chauhan stated that a committee headed by the CDO has been constituted to investigate the matter.

He asserted that if the investigation reveals the involvement of any official or employee, no one will be spared.

Addressing the allegations regarding fake domicile certificates, the DM said the inquiry committee would examine all aspects, and the scope of the investigation would be expanded if necessary.

Regarding the allegations levelled by a patwari (revenue officer) against senior officials, the DM stated that the official could present his version in a statement before the inquiry committee, which would also investigate these claims.

The matter has taken a political turn.

Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal alleged that if the very officials who issued the certificates-or those associated with them-are part of the inquiry process, the impartiality of the investigation would be called into question.

Godiyal demanded that the scope of the investigation not be limited solely to medical admissions.

The Congress claims that certificates used for other courses and appointments within the Education Department should also be investigated to determine if similar certificates were used to secure benefits in other sectors.