'Anomalies' in admissions, 100 Punjab pharma colleges under lens

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, August 9

Around 100 private pharmacy colleges in Punjab have come under the scanner of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) over suspected anomalies in admissions and conduct of examination in two-year diploma course.

Vigilance seeks record

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• Vigilance has sought record from Board of Technical Education for three years from 2019 onwards
• Eligibility certificates of students having gap between Class X and Class XII examination ‘not verified’
• There were also complaints of mass copying in diploma examination

The VB has sought from the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training entire record of admissions and examination for three academic years from 2019-20 to 2021-22. The board, which looks after the admissions and examination, has also been told to keep in safe custody the answer-sheets for the three years.

Sources said the certificates of several diploma students who had cleared their school examination from boards in other states and had a gap between matriculation and senior secondary school examination were not verified. There were also complaints of mass copying in the diploma examination.

The VB has directed the board to ensure that its officials concerned joined the investigation. A complaint-based inquiry into the alleged anomalies was started by the board in 2019, but it remained inconclusive. A senior government official said the board was complying with the Vigilance directions.

Sushil Kumar Bansal, Punjab State Pharmacy Council president, said the council comes into picture only after a student completes the diploma. “Checking and verifying educational documents is the board’s job,” said Bansal. In 2020, pharmacy colleges came under lens after the board cancelled the examination at seven institutes in Sangrur. Taking a strict view, the board had then announced to cancel the affiliation of the erring colleges.