On a day when the country was busy with the Union Budget, a non-governmental organisation announced that it had found irregularities in the affiliation process of Tamil Nadu’s premier engineering sciences institution: Anna University. It also demanded an investigation by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) into the issue not only at Anna University, the affiliating body, but also at the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and hundreds of engineering colleges in the State.
What did the NGO find?
Arappor Iyakkam found the names of faculty members listed at multiple engineering colleges — duplication of staff or having them on the roster just in name — to secure affiliation. Then, Arappor Iyakkam registered a complaint with the DVAC. The very next day, Anna University announced that it had initiated action against hundreds of faculty members who had been listed at multiple colleges. The university has around 52,500 faculty members under its purview, according to Vice-Chancellor R. Velraj.
The NGO found that at least 352 faculty members were working at multiple colleges. While the names of three faculty members were found at 11 colleges, three other faculty members of Anna University were found listed at 10 colleges each. Over 230 faculty members worked at two colleges each at the same time. The NGO also demanded an investigation into the Centre for Affiliation of Institutions of Anna University, the AICTE, and the erring engineering colleges. The AICTE was included as it was responsible for approving the colleges before their affiliation, Arappor Iyakkam convener Jayaraman Venkatesan said. “Had the university’s inspection team verified the provident fund statements for six months for the faculty, the malpractice could have been identified internally,” he added.
Malpractices not new
Professor Velraj told The Hindu that the officials used the same method that the NGO had used — cross-verification of the date of birth of the faculty members. The university’s survey found that the names of 76 teachers from one college appeared on the roster of other colleges. In some cases, a faculty member’s name appeared at two colleges. “We used the faculty members’ date of birth to identify the malpractice. Sometimes a person may have quit and joined another college, leading to the name appearing in two institutions simultaneously, for a short while,” he explained.
The survey also found that one person’s name appeared at 23 colleges at the same time. Professor Velraj said 292 colleges were involved in the scam in the academic year 2023-24, and 295 institutions were involved in the current academic year. However, such malpractices are not new, say former Vice-Chancellors of Anna University.
The NGO alleged that at least 352 faculty members were working at multiple colleges. The very next day, the university announced that it had initiated action against such faculty members.
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Special arrangement
When E. Balagurusamy was the Vice-Chancellor of the university from 2002 to 2005, it had 243 affiliated colleges, with 4.5 lakh students on the rolls. “It is the duty of the Vice-Chancellor to ensure that the colleges comply with norms strictly,” he says. When he found that an institution was giving the list of the same faculty members at three colleges, he sent three teams of professors from the university to the three colleges for a simultaneous inspection. When he received complaints that colleges returned books (purchased for the college library) to the distributors after inspection, he instructed the inspection teams to stamp the university’s seal on the books so that they couldn’t be returned. “I disaffiliated 23 institutions for similar violations,” he recalls.
M.K. Surappa, the Vice-Chancellor from 2020 to 2022, says multiple affiliations by faculty members had emerged during his tenure too. “The institutions had to link the Aadhaar, PAN and AICTE ID numbers of the faculty members. The affiliation team identified more than 100 colleges that had overlapping members and punished most of the colleges. We reduced admissions and the committee had at least one member from outside the university — from institutions such as the NIT, the IITs, and the IISc. We had two colleges with the same management showing the same faculty members. We disaffiliated five to six colleges for violations. We sent notice to colleges to take responsibility for verification of the details,” he says. When a college took the matter to the Supreme Court, it upheld the university’s action, he adds.
The violations flagged by Arappor Iyakkam, it emerges, have occurred mostly at colleges with low admission rates and low pass percentages. These institutions figure in the second and third round of counselling of the university. But the university’s survey has found such issues even at the bigger and established colleges, Professor Velraj says. The inspection team, which comprised professors from the university or government colleges and some of the older, reputed colleges, had failed to check the details of Aadhaar, he explains. “In many cases, the Aadhaar number has been changed. It is a common practice to check the last three digits of the number. The teams have missed the interchanged numbers,” he adds.
According to him, such malpractices had surfaced only in 2022 when inspections were kept in abeyance owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. “In 2022, I told the inspection team to check for salary deposit. But the colleges did not want to reveal their bank details. I insisted on it, but the colleges lobbied with the Higher Education Minister to stop it. I could have taken it forward by asking the colleges to maintain a separate account for salaries,” he remarks.
“Had the inspection team verified the PF statements, the malpractice could have been spotted internally. ”Jayaraman VenkatesanConvener, Arappor Iyakkam
A university official points out that around 150 colleges are sick and do not have the money to run them. “There is no possibility for such colleges to survive as only quality colleges will survive in future,” the official adds. Last year, the AICTE permitted 25,000 additional seats at colleges with good performance. “We are accelerating growth and that will pave the way for closure of poor-performing colleges,” he adds.
Professor Velraj says that during his tenure in the affiliation department of the university for six years, he had once come across a faculty member from a neighbouring State whose name figured as the principal of 13 colleges without being on the payrolls of even one.
Strange errors
For the affected faculty members whose names have been listed for ‘malpractice’, it is a long road to rebuild their credibility. Arappor Iyakkam has listed one P. Ramu, who figures at two colleges — one in Tiruvallur and the other in Chengalpattu. One is an associate professor at Jaya Institute of Technology. He listed his date of birth as June 1, 1984. In 2009, he received a show-cause notice from Anna University as his name figured on the list of candidates for Ph.D degree. Mr. Ramu had submitted his certificates to the university for verification.
Mr. Ramu realised that there was a younger person with the same initial and name and date of birth, who was completing his Ph.D at a government engineering college elsewhere in the State. The young research scholar now works as assistant professor at SRM Valliammai Engineering College (Autonomous). “Without understanding this, people allege that I have cheated. It is distressing. Every time I must explain to friends and relatives that I have not cheated and come out with the whole story,” says Mr. Ramu of Jaya Institute of Technology.
AICTE, UGC blamed
A. Kanakaraj, chairman of Jaya Group of Institutions, blames the introduction of new courses by the AICTE as the root cause of this confusion. At his institutions, four faculty members have been warned for malpractice, he says. The introduction of new courses has resulted in many colleges starting them without sufficient teachers. Colleges indulge in malpractice to get new courses, and thus, more students.
Anna University faculty members have a different take. Some senior teachers blame the University Grants Commission (UGC) as well for offering autonomous status to colleges without conducting proper checks. Other professors cite the pressure on the inspection committee to ensure that colleges are approved for affiliation. They suggest that affiliated colleges must pay the salaries prescribed by the AICTE. “The salaries of the teaching and non-teaching faculties must be submitted to Anna University by the colleges in advance, and they should be disbursed through the university,” suggests a professor.
The colleges must submit copies of teachers’ salary account statements and the income tax returns and acknowledgement to the university. The colleges must inform the university, through its portal of teacher migration, details of the unique AICTE ID, along with primary identification details, the professors add. The university must also penalise erring colleges with permanent disaffiliation, they suggest.
S. Varadarajan, who was the Commissioner of the Directorate of Technical Education when the self-financing engineering colleges were taking root in the 1990s, suggests that colleges be permitted to appoint industry experts to teach courses. The AICTE introduced the scheme last year following the introduction of the National Education Policy 2020.
Anna University has constituted a three-member committee comprising a member each of the AICTE, the State government, and the university. It was expected to submit its report on Wednesday last. Professor Velraj said the university would need two days for going through the report; thereafter, it would be presented to the Higher Education Department. Professor Velraj’s tenure ended on August 10. All eyes are on the report to see whether serious action will be initiated after a new Vice-Chancellor is appointed.
