On November 20, the results of the first round of allotment of postgraduate seats in medical colleges were declared. Out of more than 24,600 seats, more than 140 students had chosen the management quota under the economically weaker section (EWS) category and 135 obtained the seats. The annual tuition fees for the PG courses range from Rs 25 lakh to about Rs 1 crore. The question is how come the so-called ‘EWS’ students, whose annual family income should be less than Rs 8 lakh choose management quota seats? Several aspirants have doubts as to how these students obtained the EWS certificate if they can afford to pay the huge tuition fees over the next 3 years of the course. Did the officials who allotted the seats ‘wrongly presume’ that the annual family income is Rs 8 lakh per month? The government and the medical council of India need to check the authenticity of the EWS certificates and whether these were used to acquire a seat in the first year of the MBBS course. If a fraud has been committed than those involved should be taken to task.
