NEET 2025 EWS Quota Scam: Students Take Deemed MBBS Seats Paying Rs 2 Crore

Over 200 EWS Candidates Opted For Deemed MBBS Seats

It is a known fact that deemed university seats do not come cheap. They are out of the reach of a general middle class student as there are no reservations but only open seats. So when NEET 2025 AIQ round 1 data shows that over 200 EWS students applied for and secured seats in deemed medical colleges, it raises serious questions as to whom the quota is serving. To understand this, let's delve a bit deeper into the data.

Annual tuition fees for MBBS in most of the deemed universities range between Rs 20-25 lakh, and the total cost of completing an MBBS degree can easily cross Rs 2 crore. Considering that EWS quota students need to submit an income certificate that proves their income is less than 8 lakhs per annum, a medical seat in a deemed medical university would not just be expensive but out of reach. Still, the round 1 of the NEET All India counselling shows 200 students taking these seats.

List of Deemed Universities, fee and EWS students opting for admission in 2025

Source: The data above is based on the NEET 2025 AIQ Round 1 counselling allotment released by the MCC

Apart from the tuition fees, students also need to pay additional charges such as hotel, food, exam charges, etc. Over the course of five years, this pushes the total MBBS degree fee in a deemed university well past Rs 1 crore; in some cases, close to Rs 2 crores.

For a student genuinely coming from an economically weaker background, such figures are nearly impossible to manage. And that’s where the bigger question comes in: how are so many EWS students able to afford fees that even middle class families would struggle with?

EWS Fraud in NEET: A Pattern of Misuse

This isn’t an isolated case. NEET 2024 had the same pattern, with Careers360 reporting that 378 students under the EWS quota managed to secure MBBS seats in deemed universities by paying fees as high as Rs 2 crore. Clearly, this is not an exception, but a repetitive pattern that points toward a blatant misuse of the EWS quota.

Instead of benefiting students who genuinely struggle with finances, the EWS quota is being used by families who can easily afford the cost of a private medical education. This repeated misuse also raises questions on how the authorities have no checks on how so called EWS students are benefiting from eats that they cannot afford on paper, at least.

This is not the only glaring issue that plagues medical admissions in India. Students don't just misuse the EWS quota but also the other quota. Some of them are mentioned below.

Fake Certificates in MBBS Admissions: A Growing Concern

The use of fake certificates in MBBS admissions is now a significant issue. NEET 2025 admissions in Uttar Pradesh saw 64 students use fake freedom fighter dependent certificates. Timely discovery by the authorities saw the cancellation of such allotments across multiple medical colleges.

In Chhattisgarh, 3 students secured MBBS seats by submitting fraudulent EWS certificates, prompting investigations into the authenticity of their claims.

In recent times, the Enforcement Directorate has exposed a major NEET admission scam, where private medical colleges allegedly used forged NRI certificates to secure nearly 1800 MBBS and PG seats. Investigations by the Ministry of External Affairs revealed fake documents, reused certificates, and parents paying fees instead of the so called foreign sponsors. Raids in West Bengal and Odisha recovered hundreds of fake NRI certificates and US notary stamps.

These cases show a worrying trend of rampant misuse of reservation rules meant to help students from economically weaker backgrounds. Such fraud not only harms the fairness of the admission process but also takes away opportunities from students who truly deserve them.