University dismissed 2023 plaint, probe launched after 18 months
Even as Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences Rohtak (UHSR) has recommended an FIR against 41 individuals —including 24 students and 17 officials — in connection with the MBBS exam scam, it has emerged that the university had received a complaint about the malpractice as early as March 2023 but failed to investigate the matter.
Sources revealed that in 2023, the UHSR authorities had received a written complaint detailing allegations that several MBBS students from a private college had cleared their supplementary exams by paying between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 4 lakh per paper.
The complaint included roll numbers of the students involved but lacked a contact number, providing only an incomplete address with a locality and city name.
“The complaint had urged the then UHSR Vice-Chancellor, Anita Saxena, to conduct a thorough investigation and take strict action to expose the scandal and punish those involved,” sources said.
It was initially forwarded to the then Controller of Examination (COE), who, on March 16, 2023, sent it to the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) for an inquiry. However, the CVO returned it, asking for the complainant’s contact details.
Subsequently, the examination branch resent the complaint, stating that no such details were available and requesting that the matter be handled “at your own level.” The CVO then sought guidance from the university’s Registrar, Dr HK Aggarwal, on how to trace the complainant’s address.
Dr Aggarwal, in his response, noted that “there is no mechanism to obtain the address in such sorts of complaints but an inquiry may still be conducted based on available records in the examination branch, as the allegations appeared serious.”
Despite this suggestion, the CVO requested further details from the COE to proceed. Eventually, the complaint was filed, citing a directive from the Haryana Chief Secretary stating that inquiries could not be conducted on complaints with incomplete addresses.
However, nearly 18 months later, in January 2025, while serving as Acting Vice-Chancellor, Dr Aggarwal received another complaint regarding the same scam.
This time, he acted swiftly — suspending two employees, discontinuing the services of three outsourced staff members and transferring several others. He also formed a three-member committee to investigate the allegations.
Based on the panel’s findings, Dr Aggarwal, on Friday, recommended the registration of an FIR against 41 individuals, suspended six regular employees and discontinued the services of six others.
