Vidya likely misused Maharaja’s College seal and signature, says official
According to Maharaja’s College authorities, the sign of the vice-principal and the seal on the joining certificate and those on the forged teacher experience certificate were identical
According to Maharaja’s College authorities, the sign of the vice-principal and the seal on the joining certificate and those on the forged teacher experience certificate were identical
According to Maharaja’s College authorities, the sign of the vice-principal and the seal on the joining certificate and those on the forged teacher experience certificate were identical
Kochi: More details have come out regarding the fake teaching experience certificate produced by former Students' Federation of India leader K Vidya to secure a guest lecturer’s job at various government’s colleges in Kerala.
According to Maharaja’s College authorities, Vidya could have misused its seal and signature on the joining certificate she was issued when she was selected for an ASPIRE scholarship in 2021. They said that the sign of the vice-principal and the seal on the joining certificate and those on the forged teacher experience certificate were identical.
“The seal and signature were likely to have been copied with some software such as Photoshop and pasted on the experience certificate,” said a college official.
ASPIRE scholarship, instituted by Kerala Government, offers opportunities and financial aid for postgraduate and PhD students to engage in research at colleges other than where they are enrolled. The incentive is Rs 8,000 for colleges in Kerala and Rs 10,000 outside the state.
Vidya was selected for ASPIRE scholarship internship at Maharaja’s in 2021 while she was pursuing PhD at Sanskrit University, Kalady. As part of the procedures, she was issued a joining certificate by Maharaja’s to upload it on the website. The joining certificate was signed by the vice-principal in the absence of the principal and the seal of the ‘Special grade principal, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam’ was affixed below the words ‘principal/HoD/address of institution’ written with a pen. The same sign, seal and words appear on the experience certificate.
The college authorities also pointed out that the institution’s logo was available on its website. The logo could be copied also from the project of postgraduate students and Vidya had done her MA in Malayalam at Maharaja’s. Only basic computer skills are necessary to prepare an experience certificate with the college logo, said the college official.
Incidentally, Vidya did not complete her ASPIRE internship at Maharaja’s. Four months after joining, she informed the college authorities that she had secured a job and left. Subsequently, Vidya was not issued the internship completion certificate.