Sairam College asked to submit report UDHAV NAIG

Sairam College asked to submit report

• UDHAV NAIG

Anna University Registrar S. Ganesan said Sairam Engineering College in West Tambaram had been asked to submit a detailed report on the death of a student on Friday.

“We will also send a committee to the college to get to the bottom of the matter. We will take this up very seriously.”

A. Ilayaperumal, Director, Students Affairs Committee at the university who earlier mediated between the protesting students and the college management said, “As far as Anna University is concerned, we are responsible for the academic aspects of our affiliated colleges such as conducting examinations, ensuring that the affiliated college has adequate facilities and so on. We cannot really force a college to change its ‘social rules’. However, we believe that students must be relaxed and have an amiable atmosphere while pursuing their studies.”

The college authorities ruled out the possibility of the student falling accidentally into the well as it was located in a remote place where students hardly ventured. Enquiries revealed that there were seven wells on the campus that were covered with iron mesh.

The college authorities had decided to replace the mesh with a more secure cover and the process was already complete in a few wells. Since students are not allowed to use mobile phones in the college, it is not clear whether the victim made any calls or sent messages on Friday.

Case registered

Abinath’s parents arrived late on Friday and were taken to the Kundrathur police station, where a case was registered about the boy’s death.

On reports that Abinath had applied for transfer certificate and the management refused to issue the same insisting on payment of fees for four years, CEO, Sairam Group of Institutions.Saiprakash said last year alone TCs were issued to 48 students from the engineering college on request.

“We retain the first year tuition fee only. There is no question of demanding or retaining any other fee when a student seeks TC,” he said.

Meanwhile, a group of students studying in Sairam Engineering College have threatened to launch a strike against the college management.

The Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre helplines are 044-24640050, 24640060, and the government’s helpline is 104.

Degree holders’ details to be made available online..THE HINDU

Degree holders’ details to be made available online

• R. RAVIKANTH REDDY

It would be hard to cheat the prospective employers with fake degree certificates and credentials in the near future with the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) deciding to consolidate the data base of all degree holders and place it on online for verification.

Data from 2011 will be open to public and prospective employers, including the Government sector, can check the credentials online anytime of any candidate. The data will contain all the details of the candidates including the academic details like marks secured and also personal details such as parents’ names and the college they attended. A meeting of the Registrars and Controller of Examinations of all the universities in Telangana will be held soon to review and take a final decision on the issue.

The TSCHE Chairman, T. Papi Reddy, said that the idea was to plug the increasing complaints on fake credentials being submitted to employers by candidates. Apparently, some candidates are changing their marks sheets totally to gain employment while some are submitting fake documents obtained through touts. The menace is more in IT companies which employs lakhs of people and it is a financial drain to check the credentials of the documents. “There is a need for transparency in the system and this will lead to fairplay in employment. Moreover, fake degrees can be effectively tackled if we make the data open to all,” Prof. Reddy said arguing in favour of it. “We are acquiring servers that can accommodate the huge data keeping in view future need as well.” Companies can check all the details online and reject the fake ones. In fact, it will be a check on candidates who impersonate in the entrance examinations as the data submitted can also be tallied with the available data online by the Convenors.

The fake degrees and credentials have been a big issue ever since the IT market boomed in the US as well as India. A number of students used fake engineering degrees to move to USA in the late 90s.

Convicts did not mean to kill anyone'

TIMES OF INDIA

Three AIADMK men found guilty of burning to death three college girls in Dharmapuri on February 2, 2000 have escaped the noose with the Supreme Court reviewing its own order, and commuting their death penalty into imprisonment for life.

Moments after AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was found guilty in the Pleasant Stay Hotel case and sentenced to one year imprisonment on February 2, 2000, a mob torched at Ilakkiyampatti a Tamil Nadu Agricultural University bus carrying 70 students returning from a field trip. Kokilavani of Namakkal, Hemalatha of Chennai and K Gayathri of Viruddhachalam were burned to death.

On February 15, 2007, a sessions court in Salem sentenced three AIAADMK men -Nedunchezhian, Muniyappan and Ravindran --to death. It also ordered 25 others to undergo seven years of im prisonment. While two others were acquitted of all charges, one accused had died during the pendency of the case. Madras high court up held the death penalty on De cember 6, 2007, and it was con firmed by the Supreme Court on August 30, 2010.

A renewed bid to get their sentences commuted was made when review petitions were filed on their behalf in the Supreme Court. On Fri day , a three judge bench com prising Justice Ranjan Gogoi Justice Arun Mishra and Jus tice Prafulla C Pant commut ed the death sentence into life term by reviewing its order delivered about five and half years ago. Last week witnessed argu ments by top senior counsel, who sought to invoke the doctrine of `diminished responsibility' saying the convicts, who were `victims of mob psychology , had no personal animosity against the victims. Counsel argued that the convicts did not mean to kill anyone but were actually looking to destroy government property .

RGUHS to Revoke Degrees of Five Students

RGUHS to Revoke Degrees of Five Students

BENGALURU: The RGUHS  has decided to revoke the Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery degrees awarded to five of its students.

The students had got admissions to the Government Ayurveda College in the city and completed the five-year course in three years and got certificates.

The decision was taken at the syndicate meeting on Thursday. The students are Hasib Ahmad, Siddimatam Yasmin, Shaziya Begum, Ramsheena E and Muthyala Venkateshwara Rao. The Department of Medical Education in 2014 had directed the university to inquire into the matter. 

Applications for BE, B.Tech from May 1

Applications for BE, B.Tech from May 1
DECCAN CHRONICLE

CHENNAI: The upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections will not affect the engineering admission process as the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee is set to distribute application forms for the B.E. and B.Tech. courses from May 1. “We are in the process of finalising the dates for engineering admission schedule. Since this is an election year we will mostly stick to last year’s schedule for engineering admission process,” an official from TNEA said.

Elections for the TN assembly will be held on May 16 and counting on May 19. Last year, the applications forms were distributed from May 6 and the last date of issuing the applications were May 27. “Of the 60 application distribution centres in the state, some three or four centres will be counting centres. During the 2011 and 2014 elections, the process of application distributions was largely unaffected. Elections will be over well before the counseling process which will start mid-June,” he said.

“We are planning to print over two lakh application forms this year. Students can also apply online for engineering admissions,” the official said. Each year around two lakh students join the engineering stream through single window counseling and the management quota. TNEA will conduct single window counseling for over two lakh seats available in government, government aided and private engineering colleges. Single window counseling will be held at Anna University’s Guindy campus.

Can audit private deemed universities: CAG to HRD Ministry

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller & Auditor General of India has finally opened a window which could allow for a government audit of private deemed to be universities. The CAG is learnt to have communicated to the human resource development ministry that there are provisions in the CAG Act under which a proposal for auditing the deemed varsities can be considered. The CAG usually runs its scrutiny on the finances of those institutions that receive considerable government funding.

Of the 120-odd deemed universities, the Centre fully funds three government-run deemed varsities and partially funds about 20 private ones. Nearly 85 are completely privately run. An HRD ministry backed review of deemed universities in 2009 by the Tandon committee had run into a legal tangle that is still unresolved and stiffly opposed by private deemed varsities. It is learnt that the CAG has sought well outlined specific proposals for such an audit if it is to be conducted also allowing for providing opportunity to the deemed universities to make representations on the matter.

The HRD ministry had last year written to the UGC recommending an audit of all 120 deemed to be universities citing the apex higher education regulator's 2000 as well as 2010 regulations, which provide for auditing of all deemed varsities. The UGC, however, had shot back pointing out that this was not legally tenable in case of the private deemed varsities as they did not receive any government funding.

In a response on the matter to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the HRD ministry, however, has maintained that "the UGC is not opposing the auditing of deemed universities by CAG". The CAG has now responded to the HRD ministry saying that "specific proposals under Section 20 of the CAG's (Duties, Power and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971" can be moved by the ministry and these could be taken up by the CAG for "their consideration and appropriate action". The HRD ministry has also shared the same information with the Rajya Sabha in this parliament session.

The HRD ministry claims that the move towards auditing is in keeping with the Clause 20 of the 2010 Deemed University Regulations, which provide for a CAG audit of all deemed to be universities. The ministry has argued that the 2010 regulations do not make any distinction between private and government funded deemed to be universities and hence all of them uniformly attract its provisions.

The move is also aimed at ensuring greater quality control and checking unfair financial practices at the private deemed varsities.

400 MBBS students’ future at stake MCI withdraws recognition to Ballabgarh college

400 MBBS students’ future at stake

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, March 11

Future of over 400 students of the Goldfields Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Ballabgarh, is at stake, as the Medical Council of India (MCI) has withdrawn recognition over its failure to meet the conditions. Seeking intervention of the state government, college students today staged a protest and submitted a memorandum to the district authorities.

The college has not been holding classes for eight months.
Blaming gross mismanagement on part of the authorities concerned, PK Gupta, a parent, said the future of hundreds of students who got admission in the MBBS course was in the dark.

Claiming that while the issue had been taken up with the office of the Vice Chancellor, Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, he said nothing concrete had been done so far.

Jagdish Sharma, a parent, said while 90 per cent of the faculty had resigned or left, the rest of the teachers and staff were busy in protesting, causing inconvenience to both students and parents. He said the college management had not paid the staff for a year.

At a recent meeting convened by the Ballabgarh SDM, representative of the management reportedly admitted complete financial breakdown and inability to run the college. “Though the college came into being in 2010-11, the crisis struck in 2014 when the MCI withdrew its recognition over several lacunae (infrastructure and staff). It resulted in ban on fresh admissions in the past two years,” said Aujender Singh, another parent.

The college collected several crores as annual fee and other charges in advance last year, but failed to ensure classes, making the students suffer, it is claimed. While no college official was available for a comment, Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar said the issue was being brought to the notice of the state government.