Senior university officials have now gone into a huddle wondering whether to permit G N Sadawarte to continue his course at all, since a candidate with 20 per cent vision is hardly suited for a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree. On the first occasion, for his first year exam in June 1997, Sadawarte claimed to have fractured his writing hand.

Minutes before the exam, he rushed to the chamber of the dean of the Government Dental College, Dr S M Meshram, pleading for a chance. He was granted permission.

On the second occasion, while taking a supplementary exam in November 1997, Sadawarte claimed he was 80 per cent blind, saying his fading vision should not deprive him of a shot at the exam. In his application to Vice-Chancellor ShivrajNakade he submitted a copy of a certificate issued by the Social Welfare Department, Nanded (his native place), bearing the signatures of the district's civil surgeon certifying that he is 80 per cent blind.

This request was also made as the examination was about to begin, university officials told The Indian Express. When his second year final exam rolled around in May 1998, Sadawarte submitted another application for a proxy writer to the vice-chancellor, claiming he had fractured his hand yet again.

Students and senior staff at the Government Dental College are bewildered at the ease with which he has been allowed to write three exams via proxy and the manner in which the vice-chancellor granted permission without batting an eyelid. "But that is something the officials teaching Sadawarte should question," the Vice-Chancellor told The Indian Express.

"I was satisfied with the papers put before me," he said, explaining why he failed to investigate Sadawarte's claims. He agrees "inprinciple" and "theroetically" that a student with such low vision should not study surgery but wonders whether he is the appropriate authority to arbitrate on the norms of admission to a dental college.

Sadawarte's academic history itself is as messy as a case of bad surgery. He was debarred from the course when he failed to clear his first year in three consecutive attempts as per the university's rules. However, two years after his removal, Sadawarte `gate-crashed' the university, for a second chance. "He approached the Dental Council of India (DCI), which in turn clarified to us that the university's rule that any student who fails the first year dental surgery exam on three attempts should be removed is not consistent with the council's rules. Naturally, the council's decision prevailed," Nakade explains. Dean of the dental college, Dr Meshram, also feels Sadawarte should not be allowed to complete the dental surgery course on account of his poor vision.

"However, I would recommend that his poorvisibility should be confirmed by a board or a medical board, before a decision is taken," Mesharm said. He says he will report the matter to the director of medical education.

Besides, Meshram admits, Sadawarte seldom attended his lectures and practicals.

Senior professors wonder why such a fuss is being when the university can easily call the student's bluff by recommending a simple X-ray. "A plain X-ray can clearly show whether a person has fractured his hand," one of the doctors pointed out.

Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.