Punjab govt need to take action against fake degrees business
Sunday, 21/01/2018
https://dailypost.in/news/chandigarh/chandigarh-2/punjab-govt-fake-degrees-business/
Chandigarh – The Punjab Government has initiated the process to take action against those employees who have got jobs or promotions on the basis of fake degrees. Besides the Health Department, the Local Bodies Government Department, after receiving complaints, has also issued orders for checking the degrees of all employees. If sources are to be believed, there are more than one lakh people in Punjab who have purchased’ degrees from unauthorised and outside universities and more than half among them are those who obtained degrees for promotion or to get job in the government. Purchase of degrees from some private universities by pesticides dealers to renew their licences of their business is another issue of investigation.
Fake educational degrees are not a new thing in Punjab. It has rocked the state many times and the chapter has been closed after the reported intervention of politicians. The Health Department had issued orders to investigate the degrees of its employees after fake BAMS degrees were detected a few months ago. The same issue has surfaced in the Local Bodies Government Department after the finding of fake degrees and now the department has issued letters to officers of corporations, MCs, Improvement Trusts and the Water and Sewerage Board with the instructions to review the cases of recruitment and promotions of such employees/officers who have submitted the degrees or diplomas of any deemed university after 2001.
There is also a reference of judgment of the apex court in which it is said that a number of persons have been carrying such degrees for jobs or promotions, of such universities who are not registered with the UGC. Sources in the department said that there are such employees who have been enjoying senior posts with the help of such universities which even have no study centres in Punjab. Sources in the department said that if the degrees of any employee are found to be illegal or from an unauthorised University during investigation, the employees would be sacked or demoted. In 2015, the Mansa Police had busted the fake degree racket of Global University, Nagaland, which had 200 centres across the country, besides a few in Punjab.
Established in 2007, the centres of this university were banned in 2008-09. But despite that the university has sold approximately 30,000 graduation and post-graduation degrees. The number of such students’ is said to be near 6,000 in Punjab who had purchased degrees for Rs.9,000 to S35,000. Later, CMJ University of Meghalaya had come up with the same story. Although the Meghalaya Government had declared the degrees of this university illegal, yet despite that thousands of persons have purchased degrees of this university in Punjab. There were study centrescum-shops in each and every city of Punjab, which remained active till 2012.
Besides, a number of gangs have been caught selling degrees of Panjab University, Manav Bharti University, HP Bundelkhand University, and different state school boards. Sources and facts reveal that after the police investigation, a number of employees have been found working in various departments of Punjab like police, local bodies, education, medical, civil administration and some other departments. Interestingly, the appointment of Guriqbal Singh, grandson of former CM Beant Singh, as DSP in the Punjab Police by the Captain Amarinder Singh government, was allegedly the same case related to a deemed university.
Notably, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has declared outside exam centres of distant education as illegal. On the other hand, the Punjab Government has put the cased on hold of a number of contractual employees as they have distant education degrees. Sources said that almost all departments have been asked to review the degrees of their employees. Similarly, a number of pesticides dealers in the state have purchased degrees from private universities as the govt had made BSc degree mandatory for the renewal of pesticides licences.
