Admission Scam Rocks VNSGU and Self-Finance Colleges in Surat

Surat : While the Gujarat connection in the NEET scam is still under investigation, a new storm has hit the state’s educational sector. Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU) and several private self-financed colleges in Surat are facing intense scrutiny over an alleged admission scam through the Gujarat Common Admission Service (GCAS) portal. BJP MLA Kumar Kanani has brought this issue to light, writing to the Gujarat Chief Minister to highlight rampant irregularities in the admission process.

The GCAS portal, launched by the Department of Education, Government of Gujarat, aims to streamline the admission process across various disciplines in the state’s government universities. It serves as a unified platform for admissions in arts, commerce, science, rural studies, and more. However, recent allegations suggest that the system has been exploited by some self-financed colleges to issue far more admission offer letters than their sanctioned seats.

According to Kanani, the irregularities in the admission process through GCAS have been particularly rampant in private self-financed colleges. These institutions have been accused of issuing an excessive number of admission offer letters to earn hefty revenues from unsuspecting students.

Specific Cases Highlighted

DRB College: With 600 approved seats for the Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) course, DRB College issued around 5,200 admission offers.

SUTEX College: Issued 1,500 offer letters against 765 sanctioned BCA seats.

SD Jain College: Issued 900 offer letters for 680 seats.

SASCMA: Issued 1,577 offer letters against 595 approved seats.

Vivekanand College: Issued 700 offer letters for only 150 BCA seats.

These discrepancies have raised serious questions about the integrity of the admission process.

VNSGU Under Scrutiny

VNSGU has appointed a committee to investigate the admission scam at DRB College. However, there is criticism for not extending the investigation to other implicated self-financed colleges. Kanani claims that DRB College gave admission to about 97 students on a ‘first-come-first-serve’ basis, bypassing students who were eligible based on merit lists.

MLA Kanani has also alleged that brokers have been employed in various self-financed colleges to siphon off money from students. He points out that the majority of these colleges are giving admissions on a ‘first-come-first-serve’ basis, which distorts the essence of the Central Admission process under GCAS. Furthermore, VNSGU seems unaware of how these merit lists are being prepared by the self-financed colleges.