Gujarat minister faces fake degree charge

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, October 13

After the Delhi Government, the Anandiben Patel government in Gujarat has found itself caught in a fake educational degree row.

On a petition filed by an RTI activist, the Gujarat High Court today issued notices to the state government, the Election Commission of India and Shankar Chaudhary, the minister concerned, to reply by October 29, the next day of its hearing about the complaint of his holding a "bogus" MBA degree. 

A Division Bench headed by acting Chief Justice Jayant Patel and Justice N V Anjaria also observed that the Election Commission could not remain a passive onlooker in such cases.

According to the petition, Chaudhary, who became a minister after Anandiben Patel took over the reins of the state from Narendra Modi in May, 2014, had in his affidavit filed during the 2007 state Assembly elections as a matriculate which he claimed he passed in 1987. 

But in the 2012 Assembly elections, his affidavit claimed that he was holding a management degree from the "National Institute of Management, Vadodara," after he passed higher secondary in June, 2011.

The RTI activist, Farsu Goklani, not only questioned the very existence of the said NIM, Vadodara, he also wondered how could any national institute give a MBA degree in one year and that too after higher secondary. 

All MBA courses were of two years and admitted students only after graduation.