Allegation Hacking AIPG Seat Allotment NIC Software Supreme Court

Allegation Hacking AIPG Seat Allotment NIC Software Supreme Court

From http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sc-to-examine-plea-on-manipulation-hacking-of-medical-seats/963079/

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a girl student’s petition alleging large-scale manipulation, hacking and tampering of the ongoing online counselling for All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance examination courses across the country.A bench of justices H L Gokhale and Ranjana Prakash Desai said it would take up the petition on Tuesday after counsel Naushad Ahmad Khan appearing for the petitioner Pankila Mittal mentioned the matter before it on Friday.

According to Pankila, besides her, a large number of top rankers who had opted for MD/MS courses, were shocked to find that they have been allotted seats in diploma courses, which is far inferior choices for their ranks, due to alleged hacking and manipulation.

The duration course of MD/MS course is three years, whereas the diploma is of two years duration. There are about 5500 PG seats for the present academic year of 2012-13, under all India quota from states.

Pankila, who had secured 692 marks at the national competitive exams claimed that she had appeared for the online counselling held on January 8 conducted by AIIMS, which is the nodal agency, in the unreserved quota and opted for as many as 24 choices.

In the first round of counselling, she was allotted a seat in Seth G S Medical College, Mumbai and on May 16, she completed all formalities of admission on the basis of her rank.

The petitioner claimed she had specifically preferred MD courses with preferential choice of MD (Obstetrics and gynaecology, Dermatology, and Veneral and Leprosy.

But to her shock, she was allotted “Diploma in Veneralogy & Dermatology” which she had never wanted.

From http://www.hindustantimes.com/HTNext/Education/Admission-software-hacked-medical-student-tells-court/Article1-875439.aspx

The Supreme Court Tuesday was told by a petitioner that the software developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for online counselling and admission to post-graduate medical courses was not foolproof and prone to hacking. The apex court vacation bench of Justice H.L. Gokhale and

Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was told by a candidate that the result of the second round of counselling was allegedly hacked a day before it was declared June 12.

Petitioner Pankila Mittal’s counsel Nushad Ahmed Khan said that the alleged hacking led to a conclusion that the “software prepared by the NIC is not foolproof/tamper-free, prone to hacking / tampering / manipulation / addition / alteration / deletion / modification”.

He said that the way the result of the second round of counselling got allegedly leaked flew into the face of the union health ministry’s contention that the online counselling would be faceless yet fully transparent and fair.

The petitioner said that though she was allotted a seat in a Mumbai-based medical college for a post-graduate degree course but participated in the second round of counselling so that she could get admission to a discipline of her choice.

Mittal completed all formalities for her admission in the Mumbai medical college May 16.

Failing to get a better opportunity in the second round of counselling, the petitioner locked her earlier post-graduate degree course admission in the Mumbai college.

The result of the allocation of seats and the courses was slated to be declared on June 12 but June 11 the results were hacked and were on the internet.

The results so put on the internet showed her being admitted to a diploma in veneralogy and dermatology where as she had opted for a post-graduate degree course.

The petitioner told the court that several other candidates had suffered such down scaling of their courses from post-graduate MS/MD to diploma courses and vice-versa.

Counsel Rekha Pandey, who appeared for the government, sought time for taking instruction from the directorate general of health services.

The matter will come up for hearing Thursday.

From http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3546999.ece

The Supreme Court today sought the response of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on a girl student’s complaint of large-scale manipulation, hacking and tampering of ongoing online counselling for admission to the all-India seats for post-graduate medical courses.

A bench of justices H L Gokhale and Ranjana Prakash Desai initially asked the DGHS to file a counter-affidavit on the issue, but later allowed counsel Rekha Pandey to “seek instructions” from the directorate on it.

Mr Pandey, told the bench that since the matter was “too technical,” she would like to seek instructions from the DGHS on the contents of the allegations in the petition.

Petitioner Pankila Mittal through counsel Naushad Ahmad Khan has alleged that besides her, a large number of top rankers who had opted for MD/MS courses were shocked to find that due to the hacking and manipulation, they have been allotted seats in diploma courses, which are far inferior choices for their ranks.

The duration course of MD/MS course is three years, whereas, the diploma is of two years duration. There are about 5,500 PG seats for the present academic year of 2012—13, under all India quota from states.

Pankila, who had secured 692 marks at the national competitive exams said she had appeared for the online counselling held on January 8 conducted by nodal agency AIIMS and had opted for as many as 24 choices in the unreserved category.

In the first round of counselling, she was allotted a seat in Seth G S Medical College, Mumbai and on May 16, she completed all formalities of admission on the basis of her rank.

The petitioner claimed she had specifically sought MD courses with preferential choice of MD in obstetrics and gynaecology or dermatology and venereal or leprosy.

But to her shock, she was allotted “Diploma in Venerealogy & Dermatology” which she had never wanted, the petition said.

It said though the official date for publication of results was June 12, many of them had come to know about it on June 11 itself, unofficially via social networking sites through uploaded PDF files.

“Since the result was availed by social networking sites unofficially, irresistibly we can reach the conclusion that the software prepared by the NIC is not foolproof /tamper—free software, prone to hacking /tampering /manipulation /addition /alteration /deletion /modification.

“Many meritorious students who were allotted with provisional allotment letters in institutions at the first round in MD speciality courses, when opted their choice for upgrade in the round 2 and 3 were allotted to diploma courses which are staring at the ex—facie records” it said.

The petition cited the instances of Sudhansu Shekhar Das, Uttam Kumar Lenka and Vinya Kumar Muttagi, who were allotted courses they never opted for.

Pankila urged the apex court to ensure that she was not deprived of her originally allotted seat and also wanted the court “to pass any such further order/s as this hon’ble court may deem fit and proper”.