FIR registered in fake degree case, three already got jobs

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 6

The Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission has got a police case registered against miscreants who were using the name and logo of Manav Bharti University in the hill state for issuing fake PhD and other degrees.

The Secretary of the commission got an FIR registered on Thursday following revelation that three teachers working in a Pune institute had got jobs on fake PhD degrees. The matter had been highlighted by Udayan Raje Bhonsle, member of Parliament, Pune, through a letter written to the Himachal Government on January 11, 2018.

The FIR mentions the name of three teachers — Noble Prasad Pilli, R Jeyam and Chacko M Paul working in Spicer Adventist University in Pune, who had obtained jobs and high positions on the basis of PhD degrees from Manav Bharti University in Himachal. Upon verification, the Registrar of Manav Bharti University found that the degrees were fake. The Secretary of the commission also informed the Pune MP about the degrees being fake. The Secretary in the FIR has sought action against such miscreants who are using the name and fake logo of Manav Bharti University for preparing fake degrees. He has also pointed out that the university has received 145 letters from the Department of Higher Education and in all these cases too, the degrees were found to be fake.

The university, when asked to verify the authenticity of these doctorate degrees, informed that these were not issued by them. The Manav Bharti University said that the degrees were not genuine as they have not issued PhD degrees to anyone either in India or abroad till date. The university claimed that it had already issued a public notice in newspapers about closure of the PhD course.

The FIR also mentions that the Manav Bharti University has received such complaints earlier also and they had got an FIR registered in Dharampur Police Station in Solan on April 26, 2015.