By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 24: Health minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday said the government will disqualify non-indigenous candidates who apply for MBBS seats through the state quota in the “open category”.
Her assertion followed the demand of the KSU to know how such candidates from outside the state were managing to feature on the open category list for MBBS.
The KSU had claimed that only three of the 14 candidates called for screening belonged to indigenous communities of the state and the rest could be from Assam.
Lyngdoh said the issue was discussed with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and it was decided that the government would have a re-look at all the applications in view of the allegation.
“Officers have been instructed to verify the documents of all the applicants for the state quota of medical seats. If any discrepancy is found, we will disqualify them,” Lyngdoh said.
She said she was told that the same candidates from outside had tried in vain to get MBBS seats from the Manipur quota. The government will not allow anyone who is not a permanent resident of the state to get access to these “valuable” seats, she added. The KSU had also asked the state government to make the Aadhaar and EPIC cards of these 11 “suspicious” candidates public and reveal the name of the educational institute from where they completed their higher secondary level studies.
“We have received complaints to the effect that these 11 candidates may not be from Meghalaya and are probably from Assam. There is a suspicion that they might have obtained their documents from Ampati in South West Garo Hills,” the union had said on Wednesday.
The KSU had also made it clear that the “open category” was only meant for genuine residents of the state including the ST candidates.
“When Khasi students find their place in this category it also paves way for other students to be selected through the Khasi-Jaintia category. Now students from Khasi-Jaintia and Garo categories will be denied the opportunity to pursue MBBS because of these 11 candidates,” it had added.