Delhi University Today -DU, colleges cry lack of staff

From TOI

NEW DELHI: Despite dozens of fake admission cases coming to light, Delhi University has done little till now to check the fraud that has taken many by surprise. Where most students struggle with steep cutoffs, others have simply been using fake certificates to get into a college of their choice.

DU officials say they are not equipped to identify fake certificates. Besides, they also hint at a deep-rooted nexus that makes it difficult to take any action. While Ramjas College has got proactive and unearthed as many as 29 cases where candidates used fake certificates to secure admission this year, many others are yet to examine the documents.

"Academicians are not trained to separate fake certificates from the originals. It may have been going on for long in the university and it's quite possible that the internal staff may be involved. And trust me it's not easy to lodge an FIR even if we identify a fake admission case. Police have not taken action against any candidate or parent involved in fake certificates scam," a senior DU official said.

As a mini step, DU is now planning to ask all colleges to at least stay alert. The DU vice-chancellor, Professor Dinesh Singh, said: "I will call for a report of the situation after which we will take appropriate action. All colleges will be instructed to be more vigilant."

While the cases that came up initially during admissions in this year involved fake caste certificates, the candidates in all recent cases had forged their Class XII marksheet to get admission in a college. With most colleges getting a huge rush of students this year in the absence of application forms, teachers admit that verification of documents was a big challenge. DU had done away with the application forms this year and anyone who met the cutoff and the admission criteria could walk in to claim admission.

A teacher from Ramjas College, who did not wish to be named, said: "While conducting admissions, we are especially cautious about certificates issued by two specific state boards. Due to the rush, teachers leave the verification of CBSE documents submitted by candidates for later. This time, it was mostly the CBSE certificates that had been faked. And we were in dark all along."

After finding 29 fake admission cases this year, the college also checked the documents submitted by nearly 1,000 candidates who are now in the second year. Five of them were found to be fake, too. Other colleges are still to take a cue from Ramjas. Some say making the admission process completely centralized will help. Bhim Sen Singh, the principal of Kirori Mal College, said: "I am hell bent on verifying the certificates submitted to us but we lack manpower. I am just waiting for the right time to begin the verification. If possible, I would like to check the certificates submitted by students for admission over last five years." He added: "Every college must also verify their certificates."

Principals say the fake admission racket is likely to be thriving mostly in the North Campus colleges. S K Garg, principal, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, said: "I think such cases may be found mostly on North Campus as candidates are likely to use fake certificates only to get a seat there. Verification of documents, however, does become difficult due to the rush. DU should again make the process centralized to avoid that problem."