University scamsters go to jail

 

 

NAGPUR: Eight years after the murky bogus degree, mark-sheet and revaluation scam that rocked the 78-year-old Nagpur University in 1999, the main accused, Yadav Natthu Kohchade, the then assistant registrar, and a beneficiary student, Sunil Mishra, who is at present the chairman of the Board of Studies for Mass Communication and in charge of the Central India Institute of Mass Communication, are on their way to serve 12-and-a-half-years of rigorous imprisonment.

 

Mishra, one of the most controversial figures in the university, isabsconding for some time now. The court has issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

 

Two others, a beneficiary student Mohammad Ishaq and a scrutiniser Madhukar Smark, have also been convicted by a special court.

 

Ishaq, who got his marks enhanced in the tabulation sheets, has been sentenced to nine-and-a-half-years of rigorous imprisonment. And Smark has been awarded imprisonment for twelve-and-a-half-years.

 

All have been fined a sum of Rs 42,000 each. The court, however, acquitted former Comptroller of Examination Prakash Mistry owing to “lack of evidence”.

 

The scam had brought disgrace to the university to such an extent that reputed organisations both from India and abroad started rejecting students from the varsity. This forced radical reforms in the university examination system.

 

While Kohchade, often referred to as the Y2K of Nagpur University, was convicted on December 28, 2006, for his role in tampering with marks and issuing fake mark-sheets to beneficiaries, Mishra, who had scaled his marks to 69 from 9 in the Law of Torts paper of the LLB-I in 1995, was convicted on R January 10, by Special Court Judge, A S Gattani.

 

Kohchade, with the help of a number of University employees and agents, made a mockery of the examination system and went against the rules of the university. He rubbished all university norms and ran the racket of issuing bogus degrees and fake mark-sheets to students.

 

More than 100 people, including some 80 beneficiary students, are facing charges of cheating and forgery in several cases.

 

As the court delivers its verdicts one by one, academicians feel the university will be cleansed of its ills and it would again regain its lost glory.

 

Though the varsity’s reputation took a beating after the scam surfaced, it at least helped moot several reforms in the examination system and safeguard policies against cases of forgery.

 

There were no rules for valuation, revaluation or tabulation until the scam wrecked the university.

 

The university formed a committee under Justice (retd) M M Qazi and issued several directives streamlining the examination system and post-examination safeguards.

 

The special code affixed to each document makes it virtually impossible to sell a blank or forged document now.

 

And according to the new rules, it is mandatory for the re-evaluers to enter marks on original answer-papers thus leaving no scope for any manipulation of marks.

 

 

March 4, 1999: Local English daily, The Hitavada, exposes the scam. It publishes a blank but signed mark-sheet of the Nagpur University.
March 11, 1999: The University senate demands an inquiry.
June 19, 1990: Anti-Corruption
Bureau (ACB) sleuths set up Yadav Kohchade, the then assistant registrar, and catches him red-handed offering bribe.
June 20, 1999: Nagpur University Comptroller of Examination Prakash Mistry lodges a formal complaint with Sitabuldi Police.
July-Dec 1999: A Special Investigation Team cracks down on university bigwigs, including Mistry, the then dean of Engineering.
Dec 2005: HC constitutes Special Court to hear cases on a day-to-day basis.
Jan 2006: A S Gattani is named the special judge; starts recording evidence.
June 2006: Special Court convicts Dinanath Nagpure, the first beneficiary student to seven years of imprisonment.
Dec 28, 2006: Court convicts Yadav Kohchade.
Jan 10, 2007: Court convicts Sunil Mishra and Madhukar Smark.