Regulator serves notice on Shimla private varsity

Bhanu P Lohumi 

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 11 

The HP Private Educational Institutional Regulatory Commission (HPPEIRC) today issued a show-cause notice to AP Goyal Shimla University, seeking explanation that how the students, who passed BTech and were pursuing MTech, were enrolled as assistant professor by the university and allowed to teach MTech and BTech classes from 2014-16.

“The university authorities have been asked to explain their position”, said Chairman, HPPEIRC, KK Katoch.

The information regarding Nitesh Andoria, who was pursuing MTech, and at the same time teaching civil engineering to BTech and MTech students in 2015-16 and Robin Mahajan with BTech degree teaching civil engineering students in 2014-15 in the university was provided by the university itself under the RTI Act. However, the information was deliberately delayed for almost two years.

The practice is in violation of the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) guidelines, according to which the minimum qualification for assistant professor is BE/B.Tech and ME/M.Tech with first-class or equivalent in any course.

RTI activist Rahul Prashar had shot off a letter to the regulator, stating that this was a case of corruption and disturbance of invalid degrees. The university had employed unqualified teachers and compromised with the quality of education and sought exemplary action against it. The issue would be brought in the notice of the AICTE also, he added.

As Nitesh and Robin Mahajan were teaching in the university, it implies that they had not attended their MTech classes regularly, Rahul said.