GUWAHATI, Jan 5 � Public activist Prof Deven Dutta today said that large-scale frauds were being perpetrated by some outside universities in awarding doctorate degrees to undeserving college teachers of Assam. Besides, there have also been irregular appointments in other staff in colleges.
Addressing the media, Prof Dutta said that the malpractices, which could cause irreparable harm to the State�s educational spheres, had been particularly widespread in western Assam. �In Bongaigaon alone there have been five such cases of fraudulent procuring of PhD certificates and in western Assam as a whole there would be no less than 30 cases,� he said.
Citing documents obtained through RTI, Prof Dutta said that the present principal of Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of Lengtisinga in Bongaigaon fraudulently obtained his PhD certificate from Magadh University of Bodhgaya.
�After getting 45 per cent in the BA final exam, he did MA in Education in Kanpur University and later got enrolled in Dravidian University of Kuppan in Tamil Nadu. But his PhD certificate is from Magadh University and there was no migration certificate from Dravidian University as well,� he said.
�In one of his replies to the RTI queries, the principal wrote �dose not arises� instead of �does not arise� � something that speaks volumes about the academic brilliance of the principal,� he added.
Prof Dutta said that the State�s education would sink into an abyss if handled by such teachers. �But this is already happening, and this is precisely due to the inadequate scrutiny of credentials of college teachers during the appointment process even though there are screening committees for the purpose. The Education Minister in particular needs to view the situation seriously and intervene,� he said.
Prof Dutta also said that a politician and coal mafia was calling the shots in the governing body of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College and it was hardly surprising why such anomalies were taking place. Even after the politician was removed from the post of the chairman following public pressure, he is still its most influential member in his capacity as a �donor member�, he said.
Prof Dutta further said that the college was showing inflated figures of students to the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) in a bid to get elevated to an ad-hoc college and then to a deficit grants-in-aid college.
�The college, which is a venture institution, has shown the number of its students (during 2007-08) as 530 to the DHE, while the figure shown to Gauhati University was 122. Again, the next year the numbers shown to the DHE and GU were 547 and 195 respectively,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that the upgrading process of venture colleges into full fledged colleges was also mired in corruption and illegalities, as testified to by the fraudulent means obtained by the college for the purpose.
Prof Dutta said that all those were merely the proverbial tip of the iceberg. �If the government investigates into the developments seriously, many more cases of fraud and forgery in the educational spheres would emerge,� he said.
Meanwhile, following a complaint from aggrieved parties, the Gauhati High Court has also stayed the provincialization of the services of the principal until further orders.
