Mumbai: Some of the students who took admission in the first-year junior college (FYJC) in the special round at KJ Somaiya College of Arts and Commerce, Vidyavihar, had scored in the 90s and, therefore, could have comfortably secured seats in the first three rounds. This raised suspicion among the college authorities during the review, prompting them to examine the documents of all students from boards other than the state board.
After verification, it was found that marks of some students who had scored in the 50s and 60s were fraudulently modified to 90% and more to make them eligible for admission.
Admissions of around 50 students were cancelled after a racket was unearthed at the college and two other institutes under the same management. The police arrested three individuals, two from the college staff and a tout, while two others are still on the run.
Sandeep Sangave, deputy director, school education, Mumbai division, said that the college authorities became suspicious upon seeing students scoring in the 90s securing admissions in the special rounds. “With such high scores, they could easily bag seats in the first three rounds of FYJC admissions. Special rounds are conducted for the benefit of students who are without seats even after three rounds of admissions. This raised their suspicion, leading them to investigate their documents and even cross-verify with the respective schools,” Sangave said.
A college management representative said some of the students were not even from the schools mentioned in their school leaving certificates, proving that these students had even forged their leaving certificates. According to the FIR filed with the Tilak Nagar police station, over 15 students submitted forged leaving certificates too.
For four students, the college did not get the real names of their schools, and one student’s scorecard was not even found on the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) website. Some of the names of the schools mentioned in the FIR are leading sought-after schools in the city.
After their independent investigation, the college first informed the deputy director’s office on Oct 24 through a letter. The college’s letter mentioned that 47 students were illegally admitted to the college by their clerks based on fake marksheets and school leaving certificates. Sangave directed all three colleges to immediately cancel the admissions of these students and directed administrative and criminal action against the employees.
While the FIR mentioned that the parents had no idea about the forged documents and they were promised management quota seats in lieu of money, a govt official said that the documents are uploaded using the login ID and the parents did not seem uneducated to be completely unaware of the forged documents.
None of these parents have approached the deputy director’s office to seek relief for the cancelled admissions yet. “The FYJC admission portal clearly seeks the students’ signatures on an undertaking mentioning that if there are discrepancies in the information they furnished, their admissions will be cancelled,” said Sangave.
