Fake faculty members row: AU makes Aadhaar-based authentication must 52K In Affiliated Engg Colleges To Resubmit Details For 2024-25 Before Nov 29

Fake faculty members row: AU makes Aadhaar-based authentication must 52K In Affiliated Engg Colleges To Resubmit Details For 2024-25 Before Nov 29

Ragu.Raman@timesofindia.com 17.11.2024 

Chennai : In the wake of the fake faculty members row, Anna University has made Aadhaar based authentication mandatory for all 52,000 faculty members in its affiliated colleges. It also asked colleges to resubmit faculty members' details for 2024-25 before Nov 29 on its portal which will accept the Aadhaar number only after fingerprint verification. “The Aadhaar numbers and biometrics are linked. So, they cannot give duplicate Aadhaar numbers. The process for existing faculty members is ongoing,” a source in the university said.

The university has asked for details including AICTE faculty ID and PAN. It also asked the colleges to procure fingerprint scanners from UIDAI. “All existing faculty members will get the ID. If they are shifting to another college, the colleges can use the ID. For registering new faculty members, they may have to physically come to the university to register their fingerprints.”

In a circular to all affiliated colleges, Anna University registrar J Prakash warned that institutions which do not submit the details by the deadline will not be considered for a grant of affiliation for the 2025-26 academic year. Following the row over fake faculty members, the university’s syndicate decided to debar the fraudulent faculty members from teaching in Tamil Nadu. It sent notices to around 1,000 faculty members from 2023-24 and 2024-25 who were shown working in multiple colleges. “Only 10% to 20% of faculty members turned up for the inquiry. In some cases, colleges which collected the Aadhar details for job interviews submitted those details for affiliation,” a source said. When the university enquired, those colleges claim that the faculty members joined and left their colleges, source added. 

The university also sent notices to 295 engineering colleges on this issue Volunteers of Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-corruption NGO, found that 353 individuals had been working in multiple engineering colleges for the 2023-24 academic year. Following this, an internal probe ordered by Anna University found that 2,000 faculty positions were shown with fake faculty members by engineering colleges for 2024-25.