Fake-varsity probe

First published on 15-Dec-2017

Ramashankar

Patna: The CBI is all set to initiate probe into a fake university in Bhojpur district, just 60km from Patna, which used to grant affiliation to institutions running ayurveda, homoeopathy and allopathic courses in Bihar as well as outside the state. Initial investigations by a high-level committee indicate that over 800 persons given degrees and diplomas from these institutions were engaged in practice across the country. The Patna High Court ordered the CBI probe on Wednesday, and sources in the central investigating agency said they were awaiting the high court order to formally lodge an FIR and start investigations into the medical fraud. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah directed the CBI on Wednesday to ascertain how the institution in Ara, Council for Patent Medicine, granted affiliation to medical colleges in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, Faridabad in Haryana, Bangalore and Calcutta. The CBI probe was ordered after additional solicitor general S.D. Sanjay told the court that the Council for Patent Medicine located at Jagdeo Nagar in Ara had "illegally" granted permission to several medical colleges to impart education in all three systems of medicine: Allopathic, homoeopathic and Unani/ayurvedic. The court order came during hearing of a writ petition filed by Umesh Chand and others from Faridabad, who had been practising for decades together on the basis of degrees awarded by the Haryana-based medical college that the Council for Patent Medicine had recognised. The Haryana government had stopped them from practising as doctors, and they had moved the high court. The colleges used to run medical courses such as Bachelor of Allopathic Patent Medical Specialties, Bachelor of Allopathic Patent Medicine and Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine in Biochemical System. Even MD (one-year course) degrees were issued to the students. Additional solicitor general Sanjay presented a 100-page report submitted by a high-level committee set up by the state government on the directive of the high court. The committee, in its report, stated that the medical colleges were running in contravention of existing law, rules and procedure and were violating laws regulating medical education and practice in the country. Sanjay pointed out in the court that around 800 students, who were awarded degrees from the colleges affiliated to the fake institution, were practising in different parts of the country. He pleaded for a CBI probe as the matter had "pan-India ramifications". The two-member enquiry committee set up by the state government in February last year had found that the fake institution was not only committing fraud with the government of India but also doing immense harm to the society by issuing "illegal degrees" without any actual study or proper training. The report, jointly prepared by then inspector-general of the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) Sunil Kumar Jha and then director of health services, had cited several previous judgments of the Supreme Court and high courts. The investigation was so extensive that even the petitioners' legal counsel Prem Shankar Jha agreed with the report. Sunil, at present posted as IG, Darbhanga, was assigned to investigate as he had earlier served with the CBI. Jha visited the Ara office of the Council of Patent Medicine and a medical college affiliated to it in Muzaffarpur. Authoritative sources said that the Council for Patent Medicine used to claim and even write on the degrees of the students that it was recognised by the government and approved by the judiciary. The practice of affiliation was going on since 1990, but flourished after 1996. Sources said that the "medical fraud" was first detected when Amir Subhani (at present principal secretary, home) was the district magistrate of Bhojpur. A police complaint was lodged against the Council for Patent Medicine by an official on Subhani's orders. However, the then superintendent of police of Bhojpur, R.K. Mallick, gave a clean chit to the institute. The judicial magistrate posted in Bhojpur had also agreed with the police investigation. The high court has listed the case for next hearing on April 11, 2018