‘University sought scholarship of students who left course midway’

Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Shimla, June 16

A former employee of Indus International University (IIU), Una, which is under scanner for withholding the documents of 100 SC students, has alleged that the university had applied for the scholarship of 31 students, who had taken admission in 2017, but left the course midway.

Writes to edu regulatory panel

• In a mail to the HPPEIRC, the former employee alleged these students were admitted on zero tuition fee
• The students were told it would be taken from the government, but the students left the course midway to study elsewhere
• However, the university withheld the original documents and applied for scholarship. It kept the documents until the amount was received in a student’s account
• The documents were returned to the students only after taking tuition fee (scholarship fee)

In a mail to the Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission (HPPIERC), former employee Vinod alleged that these students neither attended classes nor appeared in the examinations. The university withheld the original documents of students and applied for scholarship.

These students were admitted on zero tuition fee on the pretext that it would be taken from government. However, the students left the course midway to study elsewhere. The university withheld their original documents and applied for scholarship. It kept the documents until the amount was received in a student’’s account.

The documents were returned to them only after taking tuition fee (scholarship fee), he alleged.

He urged the commission to initiate an inquiry into the matter. The complainant also attached the list of 31 students with Aadhaar numbers.

Vinod alleged that every year, the university claimed such scholarships and recovered money from students.

When contacted, Chairman, HPPIERC, Maj Gen Atul Kaushik (Retd) said it was a serious matter as fee and scholarship were not linked. The commission would seek a reply from the university and in case it was not satisfactory, the case would be forwarded to investigation agencies.

Another student (2015-2019 BTech batch) of the university alleged that his original certificates, including caste, bonified and income certificate and Aadhaar card and PNB passbook, had not been returned till date.

A security amount of

Rs 10,000 was also not refunded even after

directions from the regulatory commission.

Meanwhile, to maintain quality in education and prevent malpractices, the commission has constituted an expert committee to investigate and analyse the matter pertaining to lodging an FIR related to the fake degree of Lekh Raj and also asked the Una SP to provide assistance to the panel.

Lekh Raj, who was working as the head of the department of civil engineering at the university, had claimed that he pursued his MTech from Manav Bharti University (MBU,) but the university denied his claim and maintained that neither Lekh Raj was registered with them nor any certificate had been issued.

The commission had directed the Indus university to lodge an FIR against Lekh Raj after the VC admitted that he did not fulfill the necessary qualification and had been terminated. However, the university did not comply with the orders and misguided the commission.