Schools cautious about ‘fake’ EWS applicants

Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 9

As the admissions for the economically weaker sections (EWS) have begun, private schools are taking measures to verify the EWS applications at their own level as well.

It is during the admissions time that the cases of “fake” EWS applicants also come to the fore. Last year, several schools had set up inquiries at individual level against the EWS applicants and found bogus applications as well.

Like the previous year, Tender Heart School has again filed 20 Right to Information (RTI) applications for seeking details of documents applied by the EWS applicants to the DC office.

Vikrant Suri, Principal of the school, said: “Seat should only be given to EWS candidate and not to the non-EWS candidate. Last year, I found a couple of fake EWS status working in well-settled positions. They even owned a flat outside Chandigarh.”

Suri added: “This year again, I have found a candidate who has been issued income certificate from Muzzafarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, whereas for getting an EWS seat in a private school, the candidate should be a resident of Chandigarh. There are several cases wherein parents fake the status and get an advantage they don’t deserve. Hence, we have to be extra careful.”

In the previous admissions, several complaints from Tender Heart School and Bhavan Vidyalaya School were submitted to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) office for issuing income certificates to the applicants faking EWS status.

A patwari also had to face an inquiry for “issuing” fake income certificate. The ruckus created last year also resulted in orders which prohibited the DC office from issuing the income certificate.

However, for this year’s admissions, self-certification was made the basis for the issuance of income certificates by the DC office. No proof of income was sought except the self-declaration of the monthly income of other members of the family, total annual family income from all sources and total monthly family income from all sources.

The application also had provision wherein it was mentioned that if the information furnished above is found to be incorrect, the said applicant shall be liable for prosecution under Sections 177 and 191 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).