CBI on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the Madhya Pradesh DMAT scam, relating to admission in private dental and medical colleges, appeared to be many times larger than the Vyapam scam, but expressed its inability to take over the investigation due to shortage of manpower.
In an affidavit filed in the court, CBI said around 27% of posts from inspector to additional SP level in the agency were vacant and it was impossible for it to take over the new cases as it was already overburdened with Vyapam and chit fund scam cases.
“The DMAT scam as highlighted by the petitioners, purportedly started from 2009 and ever year thousands of students have been admitted in private dental and medical colleges against the management quota. Hence, in its scope and depth, the DMAT scam appears to be many times more than the Vyapam scam,“ the affidavit said.
After Vyapam, irregularities and corruption in Madhya Pradesh Den tal and Medical Admission Test (DMAT) also came under judicial scrutiny with the SC agreeing to hear a plea for CBI probe into it andsought a response from the agency .
In its reply, the CBI said, “It is humbly submitted that the CBI is finding it extremely hard and almost impossible to cope with the extent of cases already being investigated, including Vyapam, due to scarcity of resources particularly human resources. The CBI is already probing more than 1,000 chit fund scam cases in several states,“ it said.
“In CBI, investigation is normally conducted by the officers of the rank of inspector to additional SP whose sanctioned strength is 1,264 only and out of them 348 posts are presently vacant,“ it said.
There are 15 private dental colleges and six private medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh with approximately 2,800 seats for which the Association for Private Medical and Dental Colleges (APDMC) conducts DMAT every year. About 42% of the seats are for the state quota, 43% for management quota and the remaining 15% for NRIs.
The petitioners contended that almost all admissions to 58% seats (43% management quota and 15% NRI quota) under DMAT were rigged. They said admissions under the 42% state quota were also rigged by using scorers.
