IIT Kharagpur: Image via Wikipedia
The Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur is one of the original 5 IIT’s and perhaps the one enjoying the highest reputation of them all. But the case of the fake institute – Institution of Electrical Engineers (I) – being run apparently by a few rogue faculty members is now spreading and revealing that many faculty members were involved. The investigations which were first to be conducted by a panel of academics will now be shifted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Many voices were raised against the proposed composition of the panel apprehending a “whitewash”.
The case was first broken in October by the Calcutta Telegraph:
The Centre today asked IIT Kharagpur to give a “factual account” of a professor’s alleged role in running an unapproved institute and duping students into believing it was a branch of the tech school. Amit Kumar Ghosh, the head of the department of aeronautical engineering, has been accused of having a hand in the running of the Institution of Electrical Engineering (IEE) in Kharagpur and offering diploma courses without the approval of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).
The ministry is livid that a senior faculty member could be involved in “fraudulent” activities. “The IIT Kharagpur authorities have been asked to furnish a factual account on the issue,” a ministry official said. A senior IIT official said Ghosh had been removed as aeronautical engineering department head following the allegations. An inquiry has been ordered.
The IEE has been operating from a temporary campus and offering courses such as a diploma in electrical engineering. Ghosh has allegedly been serving as the institute president. J.K. Tiwary has apparently been managing the institute for the last two years and luring students by claiming that the IEE is a branch of IIT-Kharagpur. Trouble started this year after students found out that the IEE had no connection with IIT Kharagpur. It did not even have AICTE approval, mandatory for an institute teaching any technical course.
Furious, the students registered a complaint with the IIT Kharagpur director. “They have spoiled our career. We want justice,” M. Ramu, a student of IEE, said.
In the beginning of December, evidence surfaced that many more faculty members were involved. The Times of India reported that:
IIT-Kharagpur has all along been in denial that its faculty members were involved in the running of fake institute — Institution of Electrical Engineers (I). But the hollow claims now lay in tatters, thanks to a photographic proof showing teachers of the institution along with J K Tiwari, the brain behind the institute, who, incidentally, has nothing to do with IIT-Kharagpur.
Police recovered the photograph during a raid and are soon going to question faculty members — both serving and retired — who are seen along with Tiwari. The photograph shows A K Ghosh, former head of department of aerospace engineering and an ex-chief vigilance officer, who has since been suspended for his alleged involvement in the scam.
The others caught in freeze frame are N K Kishore, professor, department of electrical engineering; Jayanta Pal, head of department, electrical engineering; Pallab Kumar Chattopadhyay, retired professor of agricultural and food engineering; Punyabrata Dutta Gupta, retired professor of electrical engineering; J C Biswas, retired professor of electronics & electrical communication engineering.
Tiwari, who conceived IEE (I), and even managed to get an official quarter for the institute, is seen sitting along with a section of IIT-Kharagpur faculty members. Police sources said they are investigating if the photograph was taken during the convocation of IEE (I) as claimed by many students of the fake institute.
Yesterday, the Indian Express revealed that
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will probe the fake institute scam that was allegedly run from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, by some of its faculty members……. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have decided that a CBI probe was the best course to follow and the issue would be formally referred to the agency in the next few days.
The stench of corruption in the Indian body academic is not restricted to the private “education industry” but is present even in the most respectable institutions.
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