Degree scam: Challans filed against 15 teachers in Himachal

Hamirpur, October 16

The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SVACB) initiated action in fake degree scam by filing challan against 15 teachers on Saturday. It was alleged that they had secured jobs in the Education Department with fake degrees acquired from Magadh University. The bureau filed 13 challans at Hamirpur and one each at Nahan and Dharamsala.

The selection of teachers was done in 2004-05 under the ex-servicemen quota and it was alleged that some candidates had secured jobs on fake certificates. After a complaint to the Vigilance Bureau, an investigating team visited Magadh University in Bihar in 2018 to verify the certificates of suspected candidates. The Controller of Examinations and Registrar of the university had confirmed that the accused were not students of the university and no degrees were issued to them by the university.

It was learnt that documents of 17 persons were investigated and 15 of them were found fake. The matter remained pending for long, but now the SVACB has filed the challan after getting permission from the government. Some of the teachers have completed their tenure and are enjoying retirement benefits as well.