Haryana state vigilance bureau (SVB) has booked 14 senior ranking officers of the state’s fisheries department for obtaining MSc (zoology) degrees in an illegal manner from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan-based deemed universities. The development hints at a massive scam involving obtaining of higher degrees through distance mode by Haryana government officials to get promotion and other related benefits in service.
A FIR has also been registered against two institutions — Vinayak Mission University, Salem, Tamil Nadu and IASE deemed university, Sardar Shehar, Rajasthan — for providing degrees to these senior Haryana government employees in an illegal manner on June 23, 2020.
Of the 14 officers, most are of the rank of district fisheries officer or deputy director and are still working. All of them have been booked under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 197 (issuing or signing false certificate), 198 (using as true a certificate known to be false), 420 (cheating) and 511 (attempt to commit offence) of IPC at Sector 17, SVB, Panchkula.
The FIR has been registered on complaint of inspector Naresh Kumar and on the basis of an investigation conducted by the bureau. Probe reveals many officials took no leave during exam
The matter was received by the vigilance bureau from the chief secretary’s office in October 2015 for investigation. After probe, the matter was sent back to the chief secretary’s office in March 2018 by the vigilance bureau with remarks and suggestions for registration of FIR. Finally, the recommendations to register FIR were received from the Haryana government in December 2019.
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The booked officers include Dharmender Singh, then fisheries officer in Palwal; Jagdish Chander, the then district fisheries officer in Hisar; Sanjay Yadav, deputy director (fisheries) in Gurgaon, Rajesh Beniwal, the then fisheries officer in Fatehabad; Amit Singh, the then block fisheries officer, Sampla (Rohtak); Brij Mohan Sharma, the then district fisheries officer in Sirsa; Kuldeep Singh, the then fisheries clerk (commercial) in Bhiwani; Vijay Kumar Sharma, the then deputy director (fisheries), state headquarters; Rajender Kumar, the then deputy director (fisheries) and now retired, Hisar; Mahender Singh Ahlawat, the then deputy director (fisheries) state headquarters; Ravi Bathla, the then district fisheries officer in Ambala; Balbir Singh, the then district fisheries officer in Bhiwani; Surender Thukral, the then district fisheries officer, office of the manager, fisheries farm in Hisar; and Sikander Singh Sangwan, the then district fisheries officer in Narnaul.
An investigation in this regard was conducted by SVB on receiving a reference from the vigilance wing of the chief secretary’s office in October 2015. The complaint was made by Ramesh Chander Kaushik, Prem Singh Malik and Vipin Kumar Goyal, the then deputy directors, fisheries department, Haryana.
Investigation revealed that senior officers of the fisheries department had obtained MSc (Zoology) degrees through distance mode from the study centres of Vinayaka Mission University, Salem, Tamil Nadu and IASE Deemed University, Sardar Shehar, Rajasthan in order to get promoted to higher ranks. The University Grants Commission (UGC) as well as the distance education council, however, clarified that these institutions were deemed universities and were not authorised to grant degrees, as the MSc (zoology) degree could be granted only through campus study.
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Also, according to the UGC rules, to get admission in any course, a migration certificate from the previous university was required but none of these universities took migration certificates. Some officerssaid they had attended the PCP programmes during holidays and gazetted holidays at the study centres.
But the vigilance bureau found that many of these officers did not take leave even during the examinations. One of the officers, Mahender Singh Ahlawat claimed that he had appeared in the examinations held in Tamil Nadu-based campus of the university but the vigilance probe found that he never took long leave required to go to Tamil Nadu.
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