New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate’s Kolkata Zonal Office is investigating several private medical colleges in West Bengal and Odisha on allegations of rampant malpractices in admissions on seats reserved for NRIs in both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses. The colleges have given admissions to individuals who were ineligible for reservation in this category.

According to reports, the admission granted to ineligible individuals on NRI quota generated huge amounts of money, which are termed as the proceeds of crime by the investigating agency.

The ED conducted searches at several private medical colleges in West Bengal and Odisha and their key persons, agents and other related persons. During searches, several incriminating evidence including counterfeit stamps of notaries in the USA, fake NRI certificates etc. for medical admissions under NRI quota were found and seized.

The ED sent the NRI certificates it seized from these colleges to various Indian Embassies/Missions to validate the authenticity. Several NRI certificates were found to be forged. The ED said that it found that the private medical colleges and their management colluded with several agents and lured the candidates and indulged in numerous malpractices for admission under NRI quota in UG and PG courses.

The ED also explained the modus operandi of the colleges and agents. Investigations revealed that the agents were preparing fake documents such as NRI Certificates etc., which were used for securing admissions in NRI quota, at the behest of medical colleges. These Private Medical Colleges were paying the agents for preparing fake documents.

According to the rules, only ‘First Degree’ and Second Degree’ NRI relatives are qualified to be sponsors of NRI quota students, as per the Supreme Court guidelines. However, the agents approached and obtained credentials of unrelated NRIs by paying money to them. These credentials were used for preparing fake family trees wherein these unrelated NRIs were shown as relatives of students to secure admissions in NRI Quota.

Apart from this, in some cases the colleges used NRI documents of one NRI for admissions of multiple candidates, who were unrelated to NRI sponsors and to each other. The rules say that the fee of the NRI candidates must be paid by NRI sponsors. But here in several cases it was seen that the fees have been paid by the family of the student and not the sponsor. This has defeated one of the main objectives of allowing admissions in NRI quota seats i.e. inflow of foreign exchange to India.

The investigators also found that several sponsors mentioned by the colleges were not present in India on dates the affidavits were notarised and signed in the names of sponsors. This means that the signatures of the NRIs were forged to show that they were related to the students who were getting admissions on NRI quota.

The Ministry of External Affairs made several changes in NRI quota admission rules to check fraud. The Ministry issued fresh guidelines for issuance of NRI certificates by Missions/ Posts abroad. Eligibility criteria for availing educational benefits have been clearly outlined in the new guidelines. New guidelines also clearly delineate ‘first degree’ and ‘second degree’ relatives in respect of whom NRIs can get certificates. This will ensure strict adherence to the eligibility criteria of NRI quota in medical colleges in India.

Not only that, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has introduced changes in the notification it has brought out for the academic year 2025-26 for admission in medical colleges of India under NRI quota. The MCC said that the Embassy Certificates of the NRI quota candidates will be sent to MEA/ respective High Commissions for verification. Further, it has been clearly stated that if an Embassy Certificate is found ‘FAKE’ at any point of time, the Provisional Allotment of the candidate will be cancelled, and action will be initiated by the competent authority against the candidate and the allotted college.

These new guidelines will hopefully ensure that only eligible candidates get admission on NRI quota in any medical college in the country. The rules also say that the unconsumed NRI seats will be converted into Management quota seats and better ranked students will be able to get access to medical education.