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The Allahabad University has launched a thorough review of this year’s admissions after it was discovered that several undergraduate and postgraduate students, already holding degrees from the university, secured fresh enrollment on false pretexts.
“A thorough examination of documents submitted by all students admitted this year is underway. Several teams have been constituted to scrutinise each admission file,” said the university’s PRO, Jaya Kapoor.
Officials said 3-4 such cases have cropped up so far.
Kapoor added that once the review is complete, the report will be shared with the police and other authorities concerned for further action.
Sources said the university has indicated that the matter may involve an organised group or a racket involved in producing fake documents. The current strength of the university is around 25,000 students, 500 teachers and 2,000 staff .
The issue came to light recently when the university began checking students’ degrees and other documents. Officials said they discovered that some new students who got admission through the Common University Entrance Test had already completed their graduation and even post-graduation from Allahabad University but did not disclose their previous degrees.
Officials also found that the documents submitted during the new admission process included the same Transfer Certificate (TC) they had used years earlier when they first joined the university. These students had simply submitted a copy of the original TC again, said a university official.
Taking a serious view of the matter, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sangita Srivastava held a meeting attended by Divisional Commissioner Saumya Agrawal, Commissioner of Police Joginder Kumar, District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma, district administration officials, and senior members of the university administration. During the meeting, they reviewed the issue in detail and discussed whether it might be linked to an organised group, an outside agency, or a racket involved in creating fake documents, said an official.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Prayagraj, Manish Kumar Shandilya said the university is currently conducting its own inquiry into the matter. He added that once the police receive the university’s report, they will examine the findings and take appropriate action based on what the inquiry reveals.
PRO Kapoor said a letter from the Union Education Ministry earlier had warned the university of a serious security threat and stressed upon the need for universities to strengthen their security, admission, and identification processes as these could be targeted by some dangerous elements and cause disruption. This letter was considered highly relevant in view of the present scam related to the admissions in the university, she added.
University admission officials said actions such as using fake documents, hiding one’s educational qualifications to get benefits, or misusing official certificates are serious offences. They also pointed out that when a person who has already completed both graduation and post-graduation seeks admission again, it limits access to seats and campus resources that genuinely eligible students could have used, and therefore violates their rights.
A committee set up by the university is also examining cases in which some individuals allegedly attempted to send proxies to impersonate them during the admission process. Officials said strict action will be taken in all such instances.
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