NEET Counselling: This father-daughter duo flagged a fake certificate scam in West Bengal

NEW DELHI: Ishita Soren, from Durgapur, West Bengal, wrote the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG) in 2023, scoring what she thought was enough for a reserved MBBS seat in a government medical college. Soren is from the Santhal tribe and, therefore, eligible for the 6% quota for Adivasi candidates in government medical colleges. But when the verified candidates’ list appeared, it held a surprise for her.

Some last names stood out – Mandal, Karmakar, Rai, and Bhowmik. These are not typical tribal surnames and yet, candidates with these names were listed against the ST category. Ishita Soren did not get admission and the family suspected students from the general category had secured fake certificates and bagged seats reserved for tribal candidates.

Admission to medical programmes across the country is through the NEET exam. NEET UG 2024 saw over 23 lakh candidates register to compete for about 1.08 lakh seats. The competition is intense. The qualifying cut-off – the minimum score a student needs to participate in admission counselling – is different for the different categories of applicants and usually lower for candidates from historically marginalised communities, such as the Scheduled Castes, Tribes and Other Backward Classes (SC, ST, OBC).

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET, prepares separate merit lists for each of these groups. Those accessing reservation benefits must submit certificates to prove their claim, at the point of counselling.

“These are names traditionally associated with non-ST communities and appeared alongside the ST category listing,” said Sunil Soren, Ishita’s father, from Durgapur, where he works at the steel plant as an assistant general manager.

The Sorens pursued the issue through the courts and uncovered a scam where students from the general category with low scores faked caste certificates to bag seats meant for some of society’s most marginalised.

NEET UG counselling eligibility

In April, Ishita Soren was preparing for NEET 2024 – her third attempt.

“My daughter also qualified for NEET 2023. She is an eligible candidate. During counselling, we chose several good colleges. If those candidates with fake certificates had not been there, my daughter would have secured a seat in one of the good government medical colleges,” said Soren.

Qualifying NEET does not guarantee a seat; it merely allows the candidate to participate in counselling, the process by which each candidate is assigned a specific seat in a college. Counselling for national institutions and all-India quota (AIQ) seats (MCC NEET UG) is conducted centrally by a body under the health ministry. For admission to state seats, counselling is conducted by the states.

Ishita participated in the counselling process, mainly at the state level, and filled in her choice of colleges. However, she could not secure a seat in the first round, which prompted Soren to investigate further.

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NEET: Fake certificate complaints

The Sorens first wrote to the chairman of the West Bengal Medical Counseling Committee and Directorate of Medical Education – responsible for NEET UG counselling in the state – but did not receive any reply. This prompted Sorens to file a writ petition with the Calcutta High Court in September 2023.

“We complained against seven to eight candidates who secured admission in various government colleges under the ST category,” he said. A single-judge bench of the High Court then requested the West Bengal Medical Council to provide the certificates of suspicious cases.

They produced 52 certificates in the HC, copies of which were provided to Soren. The court requested the certificates because it is difficult to ascertain a candidate's caste or tribal identity from their surname. To determine if a candidate is tribal, their tribe’s name needs to be confirmed.

“After reviewing their sub-caste, it was confirmed that these candidates were not from the Scheduled Tribe category. The suspicion was well-founded; these candidates had used counterfeit or fake certificates to gain an unfair advantage,” said Soren.

The HC also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the matter. The CBI registered FIRs against unknown West Bengal officials. Subsequently, all candidates were required to prove that they belonged to a tribe. Documents, including land records, had to be produced in court.

Ultimately, 14 certificates were found to be fake and were cancelled. Of these, seven candidates had already secured admission in government medical colleges, and one, in a private medical college.

Court orders, admission delay

In January 2024, the Calcutta High Court ordered that Ishita Soren be admitted to Diamond Harbour Medical College. “We visited the site, but the admission link was missing. They said the link was open for a particular period and then it disappeared,” said Soren.

The Supreme Court formally transferred all petitions related to the certificates case on January 29. This decision came after an unseemly conflict between the single judge who had ordered the CBI probe, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, and the division bench which had stayed that order.

CBI probes have been a controversial issue in Bengal where the Trinamool Congress-led state government has accused the BJP-led union government of allegedly using the investigative agency as a means of harassment in this and the teacher recruitment scam case. Gangopadhyay resigned from the judiciary to join the BJP in March.

Due to these delays, by the time the case reached the Supreme Court, Ishita's admission process was still incomplete. “Now we are waiting for the Supreme Court judgment,” he said.

Ishita had written the NEET in 2022 as well. “Similar cases of fake certificates occurred in 2022 as well, but back then, I did not have the confidence or mental makeup to engage in a legal battle,” said her father.

The West Bengal Tribal Welfare Association (WBTWA) has extended support to the family, as has Aikyatan, an NGO that works on social justice and the welfare of marginalised communities.

Extending support

Sunil Soren emphasised the need for further investigation to determine the number of 'actual' tribal people in the state. There are a total of 40 tribes in the Scheduled Tribes list. “These 40 sub-castes are not recognised all over West Bengal as per the 1956 Modification Act,” he said.

The Modification Act 1956 determines which communities or tribes are officially recognised as Scheduled Tribes in West Bengal. It also specifies which tribes should be included in the list or excluded. It further considers the population of Scheduled Tribes in the state based on the 1951 Census.

The WBTWA has been playing a critical role in advocating for the rights and welfare of tribal communities. It was Aikyatan that filed a writ petition seeking a CBI probe into the large-scale admission of MBBS candidates using forged certificates. The NGO was also involved in the investigation related to a teacher recruitment scam in the state.