E-Paper
DU yet to verify caste certificates submitted by aspirants in 2020
New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) is yet to verify caste certificates submitted by students last year even as it was set to begin the admission process for the current session, officials privy to the matter said
New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) is yet to verify caste certificates submitted by students last year even as it was set to begin the admission process for the current session, officials privy to the matter said.
After the Covid-19 pandemic broke out last year, DU shifted to online admissions. Students who sought admission under the SC/ST and OBC quota submitted an online copy of their reservation certificate on DU’s admission portal. The university announced that it will perform a “forensic verification” of documents once students join the campus and submit the original copies with their respective colleges. However, due to the pandemic, in-person classes are yet to begin.
Last year, around 70,000 students applied for seats under the OBC quota, 42,000 in SC quota, 8,600 in the ST category, and 10,173 sought admission under the EWS category.
According to the reservation policy of India, 50% of the total seats are reserved for OBCs (27%), SCs (15%), and STs (7.5%) in government educational institutions and government jobs. Besides, the Centre has introduced a quota for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) this year as well.
DU colleges forensically check certificates submitted by students at the time of admission, and any forgery leads to cancellation of admission.
Hansraj Suman, the chairperson of the forum of academics for social justice and a former academic council member, said, “We have raised the demand of verification of reservation certificates with the university vice-chancellor and Dean of Colleges because in the past we have seen admissions based on fake caste certificates. In the last several years, fake caste certificates of SC, ST, and OBC quotas were found in colleges. What if the same has happened this year as well?”
Explaining the process in the previous years, Suman said, “At the time of admission college first verifies the certificates on its own with the help of experts. It then sends the certificates to the authorities who had issued the certificates to verify them. After that, they confirm the admission of students. Nothing like that happened last year due to the pandemic. This can lead to chaos later.”
DU Dean of Colleges Balaram Pani confirmed that the verification has not been done so far. “Even the government offices that could have verified the certificates remained closed for a long time due to Covid-19,” he said.
Principals of several colleges said that they will have to cancel the admission of students, if their documents are found to be fake at any point in time. Manoj Khanna, principal of Ramjas College, said, “We have accepted the self-attested copies of documents of students. In case, they are found to be fake at any point of time, we will have no option but to cancel the admission of such students.”
