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PhD degrees of contractual college lecturers come under scrutiny
Top officials said that chief minister Nayab Singh Saini recently gave the approval for conducting an inquiry by the anti-graft agency in the matter after taking legal advice from the advocate general
Anti-Corruption Bureau probe
Doctoral degrees of hundreds of contractual lecturers engaged by government colleges in Haryana have come under the scrutiny of anti-corruption bureau (ACB) with the state government ordering a vigilance probe.
Top officials said that chief minister Nayab Singh Saini recently gave the approval for conducting an inquiry by the anti-graft agency in the matter after taking legal advice from the advocate general. The ACB probe would be centered around the award of doctor of philosophy (PhD) degrees by government and private universities across the country to a large number of contractual lecturers, designated as extension lecturers, working in government colleges.
Officials said that two committees of the higher education department were constituted in March 2024 to examine the genuineness of the PhD degrees of the extension lecturers engaged by government colleges as well as regular assistant/associate professors who obtained their degrees while being in service.
Departmental committees unable to reach conclusion
“The departmental committees were unable to reach a conclusion whether these doctoral degrees were obtained by following proper guidelines or not. However, since many of the universities, government as well as private, which granted PhD degrees to temporary and regular employees are beyond the control of higher education department, it was proposed that the anti-corruption bureau should probe the matter,’’ said an official. Subsequently, the chief minister has ordered an ACB probe in the award of doctoral degrees to contractual lecturers by government and private universities. “The proposal to get the PhD degrees of regular assistant/associate professors scrutinised by ACB is still pending with the government,’’ said an official.
The government’s move to scrutinise the PhD degrees of contractual college lecturers also stems from a petition pending before the Punjab and Haryana high court wherein the petitioner Dr Manju Bala has challenged her removal from the contractual appointment.
Multiple aspects needed verification from varsities
Officials said that the departmental committee, after going through the records of the contractual lecturers, said that a number of aspects needed verification or certification from the concerned state and private universities. This included certification of schedule of coursework, certification if the candidate attended the requisite number of coursework classes or hours and in which mode, certification of compliance of UGC rules and regulations by the universities, they said. Officials said examination of documents related to PhD degrees of regular assistant and associate professors and contractual lecturers created suspicion. “In certain cases, employees said that they did their coursework during the COVID-19 lockdown which looked suspicious. Some of them claimed that they did their coursework of 180 hours within a span of two weeks which also seems suspicious,’’ said an official.
An assistant district attorney, who was part of the departmental committee, submitted a dissenting note proposing that it would be appropriate if a detailed inquiry is conducted in the matter by an independent agency who can deal with interstate jurisdiction issues and legal complications. “Since the department officials do not have any investigating powers and tools to go into the details of documents provided by the contractual lecturers and cross verify them with the records of the universities situated all over the country, it was decided to refer the matter to ACB for an inquiry,’’ officials said.
