Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College, also known as Karakonam Medical College, owing to its location in the Karakonam village of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s capital, is once again in the news for the wrong reasons.
The bishop of the CSI church in Thiruvanathapuram was stopped from flying to the United Kingdom yesterday and was detained by the immigration officials to be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the medical college scam case.
In return for community quota seats, allegedly over 50 lakh rupees have been collected from medical aspirants hailing from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
As the institution is a minority-run college, 50% of seats are in the management quota and are to be filled by medical aspirants from within the community.
In exchange for exorbitant fees, the CSI church is said to have issued fake community certificates to illegible aspirants, which made them eligible for the said seats. The capitation fees collected were kept in separate accounts without bills or receipts as it is illegal to charge them.
The controversy came to light in 2018, when the Kerala High Court cancelled the admission of 11 students who produced fake community certificates as instructed by Bishop Rasalam.
The students were assured MBBS, BDS, and MD seats, though they were illegible as non-Keralites. The church has called these allegations baseless. This raises the question as to whether community seats are benefiting the worthy or are they being used as a ploy to sell seats to the high and the mighty.