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Patiala college files complaint against portal for stealing data
In his complaint, Patiala-based MM College’s principal has accused the portal managers of siphoning off data of public universities and their affiliated aided colleges and then coaxing aspirants to take admissions in private universities based in Chandigarh and Jalandhar
A complaint has been lodged with the cyber crime cell of Punjab Police against a web portal that claims to be facilitating college and university admissions. In his complaint, Patiala-based MM College’s principal has accused the portal managers of siphoning off data of public universities and their affiliated aided colleges and then coaxing aspirants to take admissions in private universities based in Chandigarh and Jalandhar.
Following numerous complaints from its colleges and school of management studies, the Punjabi University management too has decided to take legal action against the website — collegedunia.com — for the alleged wrong practice.
“It is a major issue at a time when the admission process is on in government universities and their colleges. The web portal is working on the behalf of some private universities and luring aspirants on the pretext of easy admissions and placements, especially in management courses,” said Punjabi University vice-chancellor Prof BS Ghuman.
It is learnt that after a student registers and enquires about admission in a government university or an affiliated and aided college in Punjab on the portal, he or she receives phone calls from the website representatives, who offer easy admission in private universities instead. The portal representatives even claim that they are authorised by the state universities and colleges to talk on their behalf.
Ghuman said they have discussed the issue in detail and have decided to register a formal police complaint.
“The process has been initiated for legal action against the portal as it will affect admissions in Punjabi University and its colleges,” he said. Ghuman said the varsity has not authorised any private website to admit students on its behalf.
“Not only our college but other government-aided colleges are facing the same problem,” said Modi College principal Khushvinder Kumar, who is the president of the association of principals of aided colleges.
“The website collegedunia.com is registering students on behalf of colleges using their logos and other information on their website. For instance, after registering for a course in MM College, the aspirant gets a registration confirmation message from a private university instead,” Kumar said.
He said the website violates the intellectual property rights and was causing revenue loss to colleges by misleading the aspirants.
Though there was no response to repeated calls and emails sent to the website, Twitter handle — @college_dunia — of the portal said: “There might be a confusion around the business model and plus we haven’t received any complaint so far. So, we can only comment if we see the content of the complaint. Collegedunia uses data that is available in the public domain and shares insights for the aspirants looking out for such colleges. We generally compare the colleges on the basis of cost and placements.”
Cyber cell deputy superintendent of police Chiranjiv Lamba said they have received a complaint. “The matter is already brought into the notice of senior officials. A sub-inspector rank officer has been directed to investigate. Further action will be taken as per the law,” he said.
