Parents allege domicile issue scam', DMER denies

Mumbai: The Directorate of Medical Education & Research (DMER) on Tuesday announced that it will declare allotment of medical and dental admissions on Thursday. DMER was originally scheduled to disclose the same last Saturday.

The decision came on the back of an inquiry ordered by minister of medical education, Girish Mahajan, into some parents’ allegations that several applicants who featured in the merit list appeared in the test under the “state category” despite having completed class X from outside the state. Under this category, 85 per cent seats are reserved for those having domicile status.

Sudha Shenoy, a parent, said, “When going through the lists, we found that around 50 students have applied both in Maharashtra as well as other states. This clearly means that while verifying, either DMER or the registration desk did not see the submitted certificates.”

“However, later we found that they have been accepting students who are only carrying a class XII certificate which is from the state but did their class X from some other board outside of Maharashtra,” she said.

Another parent Shan-tanu Kale said, “The ongoing domicile issue is on its way to becoming another scam. The moment we pointed out the issue to DMER, it immediately removed 750 of its students who were not part of the state yet got admission under state quota. This shows how much DMER is at fault.”

However, Pravin Shinga-re, director, DMER, said, “It isn’t any scam. Parents are making up stories on the basis of some small matters that can be resolved. In case of any change later or due to court orders, we will take corrective actions in the next round of the merit list.”