A Dalit outfit alleged irregularities in the admission process of the Salem Government Arts and Science College on October 18. But the college administration denied the allegations.

On Monday, Dalit Liberation Movement, Tamil Nadu President S Karuppaiah submitted a petition to Salem District Collector S Karmegam. In the petition, he alleged that the college at Kumarasamipatti in Salem City has 19 UG courses and 17 PG courses along with PhD scholars. In the current academic year, for admission, the college fixed the cut-off for SC/ST at 275 and for BC and MBC at 285. Meanwhile, on the first week of September, without informing the students, the college administration conducted 'veranda counselling' and gave seats to students belonging to BC and MBC even though they did not clear the cut-off. 

They allegedly avoided SC and ST students. The petition stated that the District Administration should look into the matter and provide admission for SC, ST and students from other minorities who are denied admission. Speaking to TNIE, Principal Kalaiselvan denied all the allegations and said this year they did not conduct any form of 'veranda counselling'. "In our college, there are 1,400 seats available and for that, we received 17,000 applications. How could we conduct veranda counselling which will be conducted only when bulk vaccines arise. We provided seats to the students as per reservations and there are no irregularities as mentioned by the Dalit outfit. Now, one student who was admitted in the BA Economics course did not continue and now one seat remains vacant and we are going to provide that seat to a student belonging to SC category," he added