Kerala University of Health Sciences Vice Chancellor and the VC-in-Charge of Kerala University Dr Mohanan Kunnummal on Thursday said that Kerala University had not strayed from established norms while granting eligibility to the BCom course to former SFI leader Nikhil Thomas claimed to have secured from Kalinga University in Chattishgarh's Raipur.
"When the application for the eligibility of the Kalinga University degree came, Kerala University's sole concern was to check whether Kalinga's B.Com is equivalent to the same course conducted by it. The University does not verify whether the certificate produced is original or manipulated. If at least 60 per cent of Kalinga's BCom course content matches with Kerala University's, the eligibility certificate would be given," Dr Kunnummal told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
He said there was such a match with Kalinga's BCom content and, therefore, eligibility was granted.
The University, according to the VC, had also adhered to established processes. First, the issue has to be taken up by the concerned Board of Studies. In this case, the Commerce Board of Studies. If the chairman is convinced, he himself can take the decision. Or he can convene the Board of Studies (BoS). The decision of the BoS will then be conveyed to the Commerce dean. These decisions will then be placed before the Academic Council for ratification.
Since the Academic Council convenes not more than twice a year, the VC can use the special powers conferred on him under the University Act and grant approval even while placing the decision before the Council for ratification at a later date. "In this (Nikhil's) case, the decision was approved by both the chairman of the BoS and also the dean. Subsequently, my predecessor (K V Mahadevan Thampi) approved the decision and duly placed it before the Academic Council for ratification," Dr Kunnummal said.
The VC said there was nothing improper about the extension of the deadline either. It was alleged that the deadline was extended specifically for Nikhil to gain admission.
Extending the last date is done routinely, he said. "The VC can use his special powers to extend the last date provided there are sufficient mails from colleges asking for such an extension. In this case there was," Dr Kunnummal said.
Moreover, Nikhil's application was not a last-minute insertion. "Even when there is an extension, only those names already in the list can be given admission. Nikhil's application was already there," the VC said.
Dr Kunnummal then laid the entire burden of certificate verification on colleges. In this case, Milad-E-Sherif Memorial (MSM) College. "In the prospectus that the University has published, it is written in bold that the primary responsibility of verifying the certificates for admission is with the principal. This has been the law for a long time," he said.
Though it is laid down that the primary responsibility is with the principal of a college where an applicant seeks admission, the University does not ask a principal to submit in writing that he had verified the certificate and had confirmed it to be genuine. "We have to make this compulsory. We will," Dr Kunnummal said.
He said he was not satisfied with the explanation provided by the MSM College management. One of the excuses trotted out by the MSM management is that the principal and head of the department at the time of Nikhil's admission had retired. "It is not just the principal and the HoD (who were present during Nikhil's admission). There were other teachers, too. Why didn't they point out this anomaly," Dr Kunnummal said.
"So the issue requires a detailed examination and an appropriate decision (on the action against the MSM College) will be taken at the Syndicate meeting on June 27," the VC said.
Nonetheless, Dr Kunnummal conceded one of the issues flagged by the MSM management. The management had argued that it did not have the mechanism or the expertise to check the authenticity of certificates.
"It is a valid question whether colleges have the facility for verification," he said. Even a big entity like the National Medical Commission does not have the expertise to identify fake certificates, the VC said.
"It is a broader issue. But the principals will be told that they themselves will have to verify the authenticity of the certificate submitted before them," Dr Kunnummal said.
If the colleges prima facie doubt the veracity of a certificate, the VC said they can inform the University. "At that stage, the University can use the facilities at its command to help the college in verifying the certificate," Dr Kunnummal said.
He said a lasting solution to the fake degree menace was to digitally place all certificates distributed by the university in DigiLocker, a digitisation service provided by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under its Digital India initiative. The CBSE results are now uploaded in DigiLocker. "We have already started work on this," the VC said.
