The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered cases against four institutions for violating University Grants Commission norms by offering graduate courses in engineering and technology through distance education.
The institutes are — Allahabad Agricultural Institute in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh), JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University (Udaipur), Institute of Advanced Studies in Education in Sardarshahar (both in Rajasthan) and Vinayaks Mission’s Research Foundation in Salem (Tamil Nadu).
The FIRs have been filed on the directions of the Supreme Court.
The agency has named unknown officials of the Distance Education Council, All India Council for Technical Education, the ministry of human resource development and the UGC as accused in the case.
The CBI has invoked charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, criminal conspiracy and cheating in its FIRs.
The Supreme Court had held that these educational institutes were offering courses in distance education without necessary approvals, including that from the UGC or the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The AICTE rules mandate that engineering degrees cannot be offered through distance learning mode.
The court also ordered a test for students who received degrees from these institutions between 2001 and 2005.