BOPPE Scam: Rs 50,000 not enough compensation: Meritorious students

Bilal Bashir Bhat
Srinagar, April 28 (KNB): As the special anti-corruption court in Srinagar convicted former head of the J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) Mushtaq Ahmad Peer and 42 other accused in the 2012 MBBS paper scam with 16 years of rigorous imprisonment besides and a fine of Rs 1 crore, the Meritorious students who were dropped due to the scam have appealed the court to reconsidered the order under which it has ordered to pay fifty thousand rupees out of the fine amount, saying the meager amount of Rs 50,000 was not enough compensation for them.
Pertinently, Special Judge Anti-Corruption Srinagar Yashpal Bourney ordered that out of the fine amount to be realized from convicts, each of the candidates whose score was more than 90% in the academic side in the qualifying examination and had appeared in the CET 2012 and was within the next fifty candidates in the order of merit from the cut of point, shall be paid fifty thousand rupees each as token compensation.



Talking to Kashmir News Bureau (KNB) one of the dropped students, pleading anonymity stated some of them opted Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and meager amount of Rs 50,000 can’t bring their precious time back.
“They have set criteria that students who were dropped due to the back door entry should have a percentage of more than 90% to get the compensation while as at that time we were selected on meritorious basis and no criteria were on percentage basis,” the student said and adding, that many students who were dropped were selected for MBBS next year while others joined BDS.
The students urged the court to reconsider the decision to compensate on percentage basis should be revoked instead of merit basis as in 2012. Besides the amount of compensation should be raised considering the amount we have to pay from different professional courses after they were dropped due to the scam.
Pertinently, there are about 20 students who were dropped due to the scam, while as at least 15 students were selected for MBBS via proxy. (KNB)