Misled into submitting fake documents, say parents
MUMBAI: Parents seeking to admit their children in the 25% seats reserved for economically weaker sections, have alleged they were misled into submitting fake income and caste certificates to three schools running in the same premises in Goregaon. In their complaint to the police, they said an unknown person charged them Rs3,000 to provide it to them.
The complainants along with NGO Anudanit Shiksha Bachao Samiti approached the police after these schools allegedly cancelled admissions of several parents for submitting the fake documents. One of the complainant said that Yashodham High School recently threatened to cancel her daughter’s admission as she had allegedly submitted a fake certificate. The school had contacted the Tehsildar’s office to verify its authenticity.
Inspector Ravi Adane of Dindoshi police station said they had registered an FIR against unknown people. The complainant named a security guard and an agent (Nilesh Sonavane) in her complaint. Police said from Monday, they will record the school principal’s statement.
“My daughter was allotted a seat in Class 1 in 2013-14. At the time of admission, I had submitted the certificate of that year which was valid till March 31, 2015 but the school asked me to submit the certificate for 2015-16 within two days and threatened to cancel her admission if I failed to. The school security guard told us that he knew a person who could get us the certificate in two days and introduced us to Sonawane,” said the parent.
He allegedly promised to get the certificates for Rs3,000. “We gave him the relevant documents and he gave us the certificates in two days. We believed them to be genuine as they even bore the blue stamp of Tehsildar, Borivli,” said the parent adding that on April 9, 2016, the school authorities informed the parents that the certificates were fake and they would cancel the children’s admission.
Sunita Goenka, trustee of the Goenka Associates Educational Trust, said, “One parent gave us in writing that she got a fake certificate made from someone from an organisation. The education department has told us to cancel the admissions of those who submit fake certificates and take legal action.”
(Inputs by Jaiprakash Naidu)