Delhi law minister’s certificate fabricated, says varsity

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“It is respectfully submitted that on the basis of the enquiry report, and in the university records, the provisional certificate bearing serial number 3687 was issued on July 29, 1999 to Mr Sanjay Kumar Chaudhary for BA (Honours) Political Science examination held in 1998.

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“Accordingly, the provisional certificate in the name of the respondent no. 5 (Tomar), is fabricated document and does not exist in the records of the university,” the affidavit placed before a bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher on Monday stated, in response to a notice issued by the High Court.

The inquiry report filed by the university has also alleged that the records available in the registration section appeared to have been tampered with, and there were no records available of an alleged “migration certificate” given for Tomar from the Bundelkhand University.

The court had also sought reply from the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University (UP), from where the law minister said he had graduated in science.

The Bar members of Delhi, who wanted to be impleaded as a party in the petition, informed the court that they have received information from Avadh University that Tomar’s graduation degree is allegedly “fake”.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD), who were roped in as the respondents in the plea, were today asked to file affidavit in this regard.

The court also asked the BCD to file its enquiry report against Tomar by August 20.

Meanwhile, the court has appointed advocate Raj Shekhar Rao as amicus curiae, to assist the court in the matter, after it found that the petitioner Santosh Kumar Sharma, who had alleged that Tomar had enrolled himself as an advocate on basis of a “false and bogus” graduation degree, was not present in court.

It also issued notice to Sharma, directing him to appear before it on the next date of hearing.

On February 4, a few days before the Delhi Assembly Elections, the High Court had sought responses of the Election Commission of India (ECI), universities and Tomar, the then Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for the polls from Tri Nagar constituency, on a plea alleging that he got himself enrolled as an advocate on the basis of a “false and bogus” graduation degree.