Telangana: Education certificates under scanner; academic docs must for promotion
Graduation is a must for promotion as senior assistant or to a post as superintendent.
Hyderabad: With the government beginning the exercise to promote staff, the Telangana State Council for Higher Education is flooded with requests to verify educational certificates. The government is taking up departmental promotions after the completion of staff allocation.
Employees were asked to submit academic documents before being promoted to the next grade. To the surprise of top officials, some staffers produced certificates from private varsities in Rajasthan, UP, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, among others.
Graduation is a must for promotion as senior assistant or to a post as superintendent. A PG is a must to move into the joint director’s post, while in some departments it is mandatory for promotion as assistant director.
Council officials said they had received queries from tribal welfare, marketing and technical education departments to check the certificates of the Institute of Advanced Studies and Education, Rajasthan Vidyapeet University, Vinayaka Missions University in TN, Shobith University of UP.
“Our job is to check whether the private varsity and the course is recognised by UGC. We have sought UGC guidance and are checking its website,” an official stated. TS Gazetted Officers Union member Syed Saleemuddin said that some staffers may produce documents from private varsities in other states.
“It is for the concerned officials to check the genuineness of the certificates and clear eligible staff for promotions,” he stressed. The Telangana Public Service Commission, the government’s recruiter, has also sought opinion of the council.
“A student had submitted an engineering degree certificate from Kota University, Rajasthan, for the post of assistant engineer, and we have sought the council’s opinin,” an official said.
Degrees from other states void
According to UGC rules of 2009, state universities — private, public or government-funded — can offer programmes only within the state and in no case outside the state. Deemed universities can offer programmes from their headquarters.
Officials of the TS Council for Higher Education stated that a degree or PG certificate from Anna University is valid only if the student pursued study in TN.
Certificates obtained through the distance education mode may not be fake, but they would not count, an official said.
“The other issue is certificates obtained from universities that are listed as fake on the UGC website. They will be rejected,” officials said. After the council’s communication regarding this issue, the UGC has given a fresh circular to all states to ensure that private varsities of other states do not function in their territorial jurisdiction.