Puducherry govt says it is ready for probe into corruption charges in admissions to medical colleges

Puducherry: Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy on Wednesday said his government was prepared to face any probe into the alleged large-scale corruption in the admission of students to post-graduate courses by private medical colleges. “We are prepared to face any probe as we have a clean record in the matter of these admissions. The government is always for the welfare of students,” he told reporters in Puducherry. The Congress leader’s response came in the wake of Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi’s statement that her office had sought a CBI probe into the alleged large-scale corruption in the admission of students to the PG courses by the private medical colleges. [caption id=“attachment_3732963” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of V Narayanasamy. News18[/caption] “The entire process of admission of students to various PG and diploma courses in private medical colleges and deemed universities was handled by the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) in a very transparent and fair manner,” said Narayanasamy. He said Bedi, however, had been levelling charges that 71 seats under the government quota in the deemed universities and private medical colleges were “bartered away to private managements”. She had also come up with charges that “political leaders and officers indulged in corrupt practises and scams” in finalising the admissions under the government quota. Narayanasamy recalled his statement in the Assembly during the recent Budget Session, asking the Lt Governor to prove her charges. “10 days have passed since I asked her to prove her charges. She is yet to come up with any proof. I want to know, what is she going to do now,” he said. Narayanasamy reiterated that CENTAC had carried out its task of finalising the students for the PG and diploma courses in the deemed universities and private colleges in a “transparent and perfect manner”. He said in spite of occupying a “responsible” position and being appointed by the president, Bedi had been making “baseless” charges against the government. Narayanasamy said he had written a detailed letter to the Union health minister, apprising him of the procedure followed in the admission of students. “The health minister too had praised the steps taken by us,” he added. Bedi, while seeking a CBI probe into the matter on June 19, had claimed that Puducherry was “reeling under a huge medical seats allotment scam” and that an independent and immediate probe alone could help unearth the truth. Bedi, who assumed office in May 2017, has been involved in tussles with the Congress government in Puducherry on a host of issues. She has been asserting that being the administrator of the union territory, she has powers over administrative matters. Narayanasamy had, on 16 June, taken a strong exception in the Assembly to Bedi making field visits, calling meetings of the officials at the Raj Nivas, holding meetings through video-conferencing and sending communications through the social media. The Assembly had also passed a resolution, seeking the grant of full administrative powers to the elected government in the union territory after the chief minister led a frontal attack on Bedi’s “style of functioning”.